The Lightning Thief
by Artie Gallezi
Summary: I've decided to somewhat rewrite the whole PJO series,starting with The Lightning Thief,I've replaced the loveable Grover with a character of my own n't worry he is still there,its just a what if Grover stayed at camp in book one.
1. What's In A Name?

Grover and Percy were sitting on the pier watching naiads weave baskets sat in silence until Percy asked about the four empty cabins.

Grover motioned to the first two,"Well cabin one belongs to Zeus,king of the gods."

"And cabin two?" asked Percy. "That belongs to one of the big three?"

"That belongs to Hera, Zeus' wife. It's honorary thing. She is the goddess of marriage, so she wouldn't have affairs with mortals. She leaves that to Zeus. When we say the big three, we mean the three sons of Kronos"

"Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades."

"Exactly"

"But in the stories, Zeus and Poseidon had a lot of kids. Why are their cabins empty?"

Grover told him about the pact between the big three. After world war II, the three brothers swore on the River Styx not to sire anymore heroes. Their children were just far too powerful and influential for their own good. He also told him how Zeus fell off the wagon once and had a daughter, Thalia. Grover continued the story of Thalia's pine and how Zeus turned her into a tree as she died.

Percy let that sink in for a few minutes and pointed to cabin eight, the cabin made of silver. "Who does that cabin belong to?"

Grover looked and spoke with a little longing in his voice, "That belongs to Artemis, maiden goddess of hunting and the moon."

"Did you say maiden?"

"Yeah."

"Guess that explains why the cabin is empty."

"Oh it's not empty."

"What?"

As if on cue, the door opened and someone stepped looked fourteen or fifteen, with wispy goatee starting to sprout. Dark sunglasses hid his eyes from sight. Percy didn't give it a second thought, after all it was really sunny that day. He was wearing a tooth necklace where his camp necklace should be, then Percy saw he was wearing it on his arm, like a tribal armband. This guy wasn't wearing a shirt, which showed off his sun tanned chest and a star shaped scar on his right shoulder the size of a half dollar. He wasn't overly muscular but he wasn't scrawny by any means. He was more like a long distance runner, thin and compact. Clearly this guy spent most of his time running rather than walking. He wore old looking denim shorts, a scar on his left knee matching the one on his shoulder, with a knife hanging off his belt and Greek sandals on his feet. Percy thought the camper had highlighted his hair different colors when he squinted and saw he was wearing bandanna over his hair with a ponytail sticking out the back.

"Okay, so who is that?" asked Percy.

"Depends on who you ask?"

"That clears that up."

"Sorry, but it really depends on who you ask."

"You guys mean Artie?" asked a familiar voice from behind.

Grover and Percy turned to see Annabeth, who sat down next to them.

Percy motioned to the shirtless camper who was leaning against the porch railing. "So his name is Artie?"

"Well, yes and no" said Annabeth.

"Can anyone give me a straight answer?"

"Well to be honest, Percy, he calls himself Artie but no one knows for sure if that's his real name. And since no one knows, everyone has their own name for him" explained Grover.

"The Ares cabin call him the Spartan of the Forest." added Annabeth.

"The Apollo kids call him Sonny." continued Grover.

"Sonny?"

She nodded, "Apollo likes to play the doting uncle and his kids are jealous. Its kinda play on words, expected since he is the god of the sun and poetry."

"It's better than what the Aphrodite cabin picked out, Jack."

"Jack?"

Grover chuckled,"Because he's cute as a jack rabbit."

"I guess." said Annabeth, shrugging.

Percy continued looking at Artie. He was leaning against the railing as other campers walked or ran past. Most ignored him, though several girls from the Aphrodite cabin called and winked at him. He yawned as if he hadn't gotten enough sleep or he was just bored. Then it hit Percy. He hadn't seen him in his entire time at Camp Half told Annabeth and Grover.

"Oh well you don't see him when we eat because his table is behind the Hermes table and when think how crowded that table, you can miss a lot." explained Annabeth.

"And since he is the only camper in cabin eight, it makes him senor counselor. That means he picks out when and what the rest of the cabin do, but since he's the only one..."

"He gets to decided how to spend his day." concluded Percy.

Grover nodded, "Exactly."

"He must get lonely," blurted out Percy, his ADHD acting up.

"You'd think so, but he's sort of a loner."Annabeth said. "He wasn't always that way . . ." Annabeth frowned. "He sort of has a problem trusting people or anyone for that matter."

Grover bleated, "Can you blame him? You should know how it is to be on the run for your life."

Percy turned to her, "What does that mean?"

She avoided the question, "Percy, some half bloods aren't spotted and brought to camp by satyrs. Lots run away from home and have to fend for themselves. Its not uncommon for them to find other half bloods and group up, though not all do."

Grover motioned to Artie, "He's one of those, although he is a rare case among a rare case. Most find this camp by accident or their Olympian parent guide them to camp, but he wasn't that lucky. He was eight years old when monsters finally attacked his home in Rio, killing his stepmother and brother."

"Stepmother?"

Annabeth nodded, "The gods don't raise their own children. They leave them to the child's mortal parent, but Artie was an orphan. He never met his father and especially his mother. He was somehow adopted and spent his whole life in Rio."

"Rio? As in Rio De Janerio the capital of Brazil?"

"The capital is Brasilia, but that's not the point," said Annabeth before continuing. "Monsters chased him all throughout Brazil and most of central and south America for nearly four years. He lived off the wild with nothing but a knife and the clothes he had on. He managed to stay alive and evade them until they forced him all the way to Cancun, Mexico."

"Whoa, he made it all the way to Mexico on foot?"

She nodded, "Yep. He ran the whole way, only stopping to sleep and eat."

Percy thought how a kid could live like that. Being chased like an animal for four years. Never letting down his guard, constantly looking over his shoulder, and never knowing he'd see the next day. It wouldn't have made his top ten list of things to change in his life. He motioned for Grover and Annabeth to continue.

"Along the way," continued Grover. "He ran into all kinds of monsters. Cyclopes, giants, and few other things you don't want to meet in a dark alley by yourself."

"Eventually he reached Cancun." said Annabeth taking over. "He delayed whatever was chasing him and with them only a day behind he stowed away aboard a cruise ship and hopped off as it made port in Florida."

"But that's not the end of it, is it?"

Grover bleated as he shook his head, "Something, somehow, managed to arrive ahead of him and ambushed him in the everglades."

"After being chased for months, hardly sleeping and eating, he finally snapped." continued Annabeth. "It had him against the bottom of cliff with the only way out was through him. The way he talks about it, he just saw red and blacked out. He remembers flashes of him punching kicking, even biting the monster, but he just became an animal."

"Not literally, right?"

Annabeth laughed but Grover looked uneasy, "Tell me if you can still laugh after you've seen it happen."

"It can't be that bad," said Percy.

"You've met Clarisse and how she is right?" asked Annabeth.

"Well, during his first capture the flag game," started Grover as chewed on his shirt as if remembering made him nervous, "Clarisse and her friends made the mistake of backing him into a corner and he snapped. He went pure feral and nearly killed them. Only Mr.D could stop him and that was because he is a god, He eventually calmed down and saw what had happened. He felt really guilty about it and banned himself from capture the flag, saying he didn't want to risk it happening again."

Percy whistled as he continued watching Artie who was now sitting on the railing, running his knife against whetstone methodically. "So what happened?"

Annabeth started this time, "He couldn't kill the monster without the right weapons, but he did managed to chase it off."

"But not in one piece." added Grover. "Whatever it was, managed to poison him during the fight. Luckily for him the venom didn't work very fast. He managed to stay alive before collapsing right in the middle of a Party Pony camp that night."

"Party Pony?" asked Percy,not sure he had heard right.

Annabeth nodded, "Chiron mentioned why he is the only centaur? His kinfolk are more wild than him and like to party. The Party Ponies are just group dedicated to that. They have chapters all over the country. Artie happened to run into the Florida chapter."

Grover continued, "Fortunately centaurs tend be good healers. They treated him and cared for him until he fully recovered. While he rested, a friend of Chiron sent word to camp about him. Since all the satyrs were busy, the party ponies offered to personally escort Artie to New York."

Annabeth smiled as she remembered, "Now that was an entrance. Forty or so rowdy centaurs galloping and cheering as they rode into camp with Artie running alongside with them."

"Running with them? He can run as fast as a horse?"

"He's faster actually." Grover corrected. "But no one knows how much faster he's gotten since he returned from his quest last year."

"Now that's story I'd like hear." wished Annabeth.

"You and me both." agreed Grover.

"Wait! What happened?" asked Percy, sure he missed something. "What do you mean a quest?"

"The only way you can leave camp is to relieve a quest." explained Grover. "Only Chiron and Artie know what happened. All anyone knows he left and came back after a month with a magic bow and quiver."

Annabeth watched Artie as she spoke, "And was claimed the next morning in front everyone during breakfast."

"By who?"

Grover bleated as Annabeth laughed to herself, "Percy, don't tell me you forgot who that cabin belongs to?"

He hesitated, he had forgotten. Then remembered what Grover said about Apollo playing the doting uncle and what the Aries campers called him, the Spartan of the Forest. Then he looked at the cabin and saw it was silver, like the full moon.

Then it hit him, "Moon."

"What?" Both Grover and Annabeth asked together.

"His mother is the goddess of the moon, right? So that makes him the son of Artemis."

"Bingo." said a friendly voice

Luke sat down next to Annabeth, "Nice to know Mr.E is still something to gossip about."

"Mr.E?" Percy asked.

"My name for him." explained Luke. "Think about it."

"Mr.E . . . mister E . . . oh, Mystery." said Percy as he understood.

"Yeah, we were friends when he was in the Hermes cabin, but once he was claimed . . . "

He trailed off not sure how to finish his sentence. Percy wondered if Luke was jealous of how Artie had an entire cabin to himself while he was stuck in the Hermes cabin, becoming more and more crowded as more half bloods arrived. Or maybe he was jealous of all the attention Artie got without trying, whatever the reason Percy wasn't sure.

Luke continued to stare at Artie and sighed, "Looks like the great Huntsman is about summon every monster in the forest again."

Percy looked and saw he was putting on earphones. Earphones connected to an like that was forbidden at Camp Half Blood. Not because it was a camp,but it was a serious risk for half bloods to use them. It was equivalent to sending a flare and message of Here I turn me inside out as slow as you can. Judging from Luke's tone, Artie had done this before.

Annabeth stood up,"I got it."

"I'm coming too." said Grover standing helped Percy up, "Come on, you might as well meet the guy."

"Are you sure?"

"Don't worry about it." encouraged Luke. "Just don't back him against a wall unless you think the minotaur wasn't a big enough challenge."

Percy gulped and jogged to catch up with Grover and Annabeth who were grumbling to themselves as if this was the most annoying part of the day for them and they wanted out

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN**_ - _It seems the reviews have pointed out a fair point. Artie is too powerful, so I'll just have to fix that. But rather than rewrite the whole thing, I have a simple solution. If you want to see how, read on. I'd suggest chapter seven and eleven if you're really want to know, but I doubt it'll make much sense if you skip straight to it._


	2. Turtle And Hare 20

Grover, Percy, and Annabeth made their way to cabin.

Percy couldn't help be impressed by Artie. As they walked to the cabin, Artie hopped onto the roof of the amazing agility. Artie jumped on top of the railing, twisted midair as he jumped, and landed sitting down on the edge of roof with his leg hanging off. He was too busy selecting a song on his iPod to notice them approach. Grover and Annabeth begin calling to him, but Percy doubted he could hear them.

"I don't think he can hear." said Percy.

Annabeth bent down and picked up a pebble from the floor, "I'll get his attention."

"Wait, you're not seriously gonna — " Percy began to ask as the pebble flew from her hand toward Artie's head.

He was still scrolling when he caught the pebble with his free hand. He took out an earbud and looked down at his assailant. He smiled when he saw Annabeth.

She pointed to the floor as she stamped her foot, "Down here now."

Artie chuckled as he turned off the iPod and jumped down using the railing to split the fall in half and land at ground level. He smiled warmly to all of them which confused Percy. He seemed nice enough, so why was everyone scared of this guy?

Artie grabbed Grover and shook him in a bear hug, "Grover! Hows my favorite little _cabra_? Haven't seen you for months! How you've been?"

"N-n-n-nice t-t-t-to s-s-s-see y-y-y-ou too." Grover managed to get out as Artie shook him.

He put Grover down and picked up Annabeth by the waist lifting her over his head,"You have two seconds before I drop you like a broken shield to put me down."

Artie put her down and smiled, "Still sore about that chess game I see."

She folded her arms,"No, I'm not! Besides you cheated."

"It's not cheating if you're opponent is unaware of the rules." retorted Artie. "How was I suppose to know if you didn't know the _En passant_ move?"

Annabeth held out her hand rather than answer, "Hand it over."

"Can't we talk about this?" asked Artie.

"You know it's against the rules." Grover said."It's for your own good,you know what happens when demigods use that stuff."

Artie held it up and Percy saw the iPod was encased in metal. It looked as if Artie had commissioned a golden case for mp3 player. Even the earphones were wrapped in the same metal, though much thinner and flexible.

"That's why I had Beckendorf makes this" Artie tilted to show how it caught the light. "It stops the monsters from locating me or anyone else who uses it."

She still held out her hand as Grover explained,"Still it's not worth the did you get it back anyway?"

"Not sure exactly how." Artie shrugged," You might wanna ask the Stolls. They owed me a small favor."

Annabeth got tired of waiting and tried to snatch it. Artie effortlessly moved just out of her reach and slipped it into his backpocket.

He smiled at her, "Nice try, princess, but you should know better."

Quick as a goat, Grover snatched the contraband from Artie back pocket while Artie was focusing on Annabeth. Before he could turn around Grover tossed it to Annabeth. She did her best to rub it in his face without speaking.

Artie gave her a slow clap,"Bravo! I'm gonna get it back one way or another."

She smiled like cartoon villain with a great plan.

Artie didn't like that look,"You wouldn't"

"Watch me." countered Annabeth before turning and chucking it as far as she can. Percy saw it arc high in the air before racing to the ground at breakneck speed.

Grover whistled as squinted to keep it in view,"New record for you, Annabeth?"

"Looks like it." said Artie, surprisingly calm. "Too bad we won't find out."

"Even you aren't fast enough to catch it in time." snapped Annabeth.

Rather than answer, Artie stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled. Percy knew what it meant, Artie had just signaled to something or someone.

Suddenly a loud screech came from the sky as a hawk swooped down and caught the projectile mid air. Without much effort it turned and made its way back to them. Percy didn't know much about birds, but even he knew the hawk was much larger than normal. It was just under three feet tall with a huge wing span. Percy guessed it to be a little bit over fifty-two inches, roughly four feet long. As it closed in he could see the talons were razor sharp like deadly needles that you did not want to be on the receiving end. It's tail feathers were brick red while it's underbelly was lighter than the back with a dark brown band across it. It's beak was short and dark with the hooked shape associated with hawks and eagles.

It stopped in front of Artie and dropped the iPod in his hands before landing on his shoulder and nipping his ear. Percy had seen bird handlers wear thick leather gloves to avoid being cut and scratched by the bird's talons, but Artie must have had really thick skin because Percy couldn't see a single scratch on where the bird perched. Artie took out a snack and hand fed the bird, a reward for a good bird made a weird guh-runk sound as if thanking his master.

"That's a good, Tobias." said Artie as he rubbed his neck.

Tobias seemed to stare at Annabeth. Percy wasn't sure,but it looked like it was gloating.

"Laugh if it up." She stared daggers at Tobias, "There's a reason you're called a chicken hawk. I'd like to introduce you to my friends, Colonel Sanders."

Tobias screeched and flapped open his wings as if challenging Annabeth to bring it on. In his anger, Tobias hit Artie in the face several times in the face as he flapped. Grover chuckled to himself and Percy did the same.

"Whoa, whoa. calm down buddy." Tobias looked at him and Artie petted his head as he baby talked a deadly bird of prey,"It's okay. The mean girl is just jealous. You look like nothing like a chicken." Artie looked to his right. "Grover?"

Percy held back a laugh as Tobias looked at him while Artie shot him a pleading look to agree,"Uh, nothing like a chicken."

That seemed to calm him down, but Tobias still stared relentlessly at Annabeth as if waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Artie seemed to notice Percy for the first time.

"You're the new kid, right?" He asked. "The one who beat the minotaur?"

"Uh, yeah." answered Percy.

Artie held out a hand, "Nice to meet you. Call me Artie everyone else does. Unless you can come up with another name for me."

Percy shook his hand wondering how could someone this friendly not have any friends here, "I'll stick with Artie."

He motioned to the bird on his shoulder with his head, "This is Tobias. He's been with me for a long time and he's my best friend. Say hello, Tobias."

The bird jumped from Artie shoulder to Percy's with a slight chirp and nipped his ear gently. Percy was surprised how heavy the hawk was. He winced as the Tobias' talons pierced his shirt and dug into his shoulder.

Artie took out another small pellet and handed to Percy."Here, give it to him. Just make sure to keep your fingers clear."

Percy held up the snack and Tobias snatched in a flash. Once he swallowed he cried gently before nipping his ear.

Artie smiled,"He likes you."

"Why am I not surprised?" asked Annabeth making no attempt to hide her sarcasm.

Tobias sort of hissed at her and dug his talons deeper into Percy shoulder. Percy yelped startling the bird. In a flash Artie put his hand on Percy's shoulder and returned Tobias to his shoulder.

"Sorry about that. I sometimes forget not everyone is used to having a hawk on their shoulder."

Percy rubbed his shoulder,"It's fine. Accident happens."

"I've been trying to get him to sit still long enough for a manicure." Artie explained. "But there's no reasoning with him."

Tobias cawed loudly opening his wings

Grover nodded and said to Artie,"He says he not some caged Aphrodite parrot."

"Yeah I got that much."

"All I got was _Nevermore_" teased Annabeth.

Tobias apparently had enough of screeched and flew off straight at her face forcing her to duck

Artie frowned,"Honestly, I'd expect a daughter of Athena to be above fighting with a bird."

"And I'd expect a child of Artemis to able to control one stupid bird." She countered.

Tobias screeched as small leather punch dropped on her head and flew off. Annabeth closed her eyes and took a deep breath as Artie snatched the pouch off. Grover looked away and Percy did the same, taking the hint.

Artie took out several pieces of papers from the pouch. "Shouldn't take me too long."

"What shouldn't?" asked Percy.

"Oh, I owe Beckendorf for the iPod case." said Artie. "He needs some gloves capable of handling extreme heat,much hotter than sent me the blue prints with all the measurements and specifications." He flipped a sheet. "I'm gonna have to use genuine dragon hide for this one. I think I have enough left over from last week."

"What are you talking about?" Percy asked.

"Artie is the camp's tanner and leather worker." explained Grover.

"Tanner?"

"It's the process of making leather from the skins of animals so they don't easily decompose." explained Artie. "You'd be surprised how badly the camp needed one."

"Normally we let the Hephaestus cabin deal with it,but it isn't exactly their field of expertise." continued Annabeth."We let them handle the small stuff. Mostly sword handles and easy stuff like that."

"Though they only know how to deal with basic normal leather." added Artie. "If something comes up ,like Beckendorf's gloves that need a rare hide, they call me. If it's made of leather I can make it. Waterskins, bags, harnesses, armor, quivers, scabbards, even boots and sandals."

"Of course the easy part is making the stuff." Grover told them. "Most animals aren't eager to be turned into a pair of boots."

Artie laughed, "You got that right. That dragon did not want to go down. Jason is out of the infirmary, right?"

"Yeah," said Annabeth. "Got out two days ago. Told me to say thanks for the quiver."

"Well its the least I could do. After his old one and him got torn to shreds by a steamed dragon."

A conch horn blew in the distance signaling dinner. Campers filed out of their cabins and headed toward the pavilion. They watched as campers walked or ran by with their friends and cabin mates.

"And I was just getting hungry. This can wait until tomorrow." said Artie stuffing the papers back int he pouch and tying to his belt.

He took a step and Annabeth stopped him, "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Artie looked down and saw he was still shirtless, "Oh right." He whistled and instantly Tobias flew out of the cabin with an emerald green Camp Half Blood tank top. He slipped it on and looked at Percy. "Race ya to dinner?"

Percy looked to Grover who smiled while Annabeth shook her head. telling him not to. "Why not?"

He took off like a rocket leaving them in his dust. Percy was sure it looked like he left an outline of himself in smoke like he had seen hundreds of time in old cartoons. He passed several campers and he thought they were laughing. Percy thought it was strange and then looked behind him. Artie was still talking with Grover and Annabeth,when Grover pointed to Percy. Artie shook his head as laughed to himself and then took off.

What happened next nearly caused Percy to trip and fall. Artie was blur. He seemed to materialized next to Percy,jogging backward keeping pace with him with no effort. Now Percy understood why the other campers were laughing. Apparently Artie had done this before with others.

He smiled, "Sorry Percy, I couldn't resist."

With that he turned around and gust of air buffeted Percy in face as Artie took off at breakneck speed, making Percy the proverbial turtle against the hare, only this time the hare would win.


	3. Thick As Theives

For the rest of the week, Artie seemed to stick Percy like glue. He sort of became a member of the Hermes cabin again, although everyone but Percy avoided him. Percy learned a lot about him. In addition to his speed and agility, Artie was easily the best archer in the whole camp matching Chiron shot for shot. He taught Percy how to make and sew his own leather items, gloves mostly .Percy was still wondering why everyone avoided him, only Luke would talk to him though only when he had to. The one thing Percy thought that was off about him was the fact he hardly wore a shirt. Most of the time he only wore the worn denim shorts Percy met him in and sandals.

Even in the arena, he forgoed armor of any kind. He claimed it restricted his movement too much and he couldn't fight with his knives. Sort of like Annabeth he didn't fight with a sword, he fought with a knife in each hand. Artie explained that they were called Bolo knives. They had been gift from his mother. He preferred a bow, but Percy knew you can't always keep your target away from you, that's where the knives came in. Artie told him that a bolo is a large cutting tool of Filipino origin similar to the machete only much smaller. They had a full tang which meant it was one solid piece of metal from the tip to butt of the handle. Percy asked about how the blade both curved and widened at its tip.

"This moves the center of gravity as far forward as possible, giving the knife extra momentum for chopping vegetation." Artie told him. "Or in the case of these 'Jungle Bolos', for slashing and stabbing through a monster's hide."

"But those aren't made of celestial bronze, are they?" Percy asked. "They don't seem to be made of normal iron or steel either."

Artie held one up, "These are made of Moonsilver."

"Moonsilver?"

Artie nodded. "Pure silver ore that has been mined under a full moon and forged under a blue moon. It works the same a celestial bronze, vaporizing monster on contact, but its much lighter so even if you carry a hammer made of the stuff it won't weigh you down."

He handed one to Percy. If Percy didn't know better he would sworn he was holding a plastic toy rather than a real weapon. The knife seemed to have almost no weight at all. He tried to bend it, but the metal was solid and strong. He handed it back to Artie who sheathed it.

Luke walked up to them, "Hey, Artie, I got some moves I need to show the rest of the cabin and just so happens I need someone who knows how to handle a knife or two."

"Sure, no problem." Artie said standing up.

"You sure you don't want to put on something more protective?" asked Luke, "Accident waiting to happen you know."

Artie laughed, "I'll consider it when you pick up the pace."

Luke and Artie took their positions in the arena. Luke was armed with a sword and shield. He wore a light breastplate and helmet while Artie had only his knives. The only thing that could remotely count as added protection was his Party Pony Bandana he always wore that his hair from view and his ever present sunglasses which Percy thought as weird and wondered why he didn't take them off.

"Today's lesson" Luke began, "You know what do if your opponent has the longer reach, but what do you when you have the longer reach? The trick is to keep your opponent from getting in close."

From there Luke continued to show various moves and techniques to keep ones opponent at the correct distance and prevent them from closing the distance. Artie also explained the openings and faults of each move. Several campers whispered to each other and exchanged drachma. Percy wasn't sure what that meant but he was certain something was about to happen. He tapped a camper on the shoulder, Micheal he thought his name was,

"What's going on?"

Micheal winked, "Placing bets! You want in? I got two on Artie myself."

"Two on Artie for what?"

"You'll see. Just sit back and enjoy the show, plus you might learn something."

Percy watched intently waiting for something to happen, but he wasn't sure what. The lesson was just ending as Artie sheathed his knives and Luke said, "In short, while training plays a huge part, size does matter."

Micheal called out," I don't know about that, Luke. What if your opponent is a lot faster than you? Aren't all those moves kinda thrown out the window?"

Luke shook his head, "As long as you keep a calm head and remember these techniques you should be fine."

"I don't know about should, Luke," Artie chimed in. "You do remember all those openings I mentioned? There's no such thing as an absolute defense no matter how much you train."

Luke looked annoyed, but all he said was, "Care to demonstrate?"

"We're all here to learn right? So why not?" said Artie as he took his previous position in the center of the arena.

Micheal leaned and whispered to Percy, "You want in? I can spot you a few if you want."

Percy was about to say no when Luke charged, not even giving Artie a chance to draw his knives.

Luke continued to slash and slam Artie with his shield making sure to keep him at a distance. With almost no effort Artie evaded every strike as if he had all the time in the world to move. He did eventually draw his knives but he hardly used them, preferring to block Luke's attacks and force him back. He wasn't exactly toying with Luke but he wasn't going all out either. It continued for several minutes as more campers joined to see the figured they were too evenly matched. While Luke had more experience and armor, Artie made up for it with his speed and agility. Artie's knives scratched against Luke's shield while Luke couldn't touch him.

Percy wasn't sure how it happened, but Luke managed to get Artie in a headlock with his sword arm. "Drop 'em"

Artie just smiled, "Whatever you say."

The second he let go of the knives, he grabbed Luke from the back of his head and flipped him over, armor and all. Luke landed with a metallic thud. Artie did not let go, applying his own headlock. Luke kicked and coughed trying to get free. Artie gained a couple of cuts from Luke's sword as he struggled but he ignored them and tightened the hold on Luke's neck.

"Just tap out." Artie encouraged.

"Never . . . ack! . . . I can . . . " Luke managed to get out.

Artie released his hold as he felt Luke had seemed to calm down. Luke gasped and coughed on all fours refilling his lungs with precious oxygen. Artie tried to help him up , but Luke had the presence of mind to swat him away. He recovered and stormed off without a word. Percy was sure this wasn't just a friendly match, there was something more to it.

* * *

><p>Later that that day Percy approached Artie before capture the flag game. Percy saw the cuts were much deeper than he first saw. At his feet was a couple of blood stained rags and bowl of rubbing alcohol as Artie stretched to stitch up the cuts with a needle and thread. Annabeth was with him wrapping the wounds he had already stitched.<p>

"I don't know why you don't just go to the infirmary." said Annabeth. "This isn't a war where there aren't medics available."

"It'sssss . . . ah! . . . a reminder" Artie grunted as he poured alcohol on the freshly stitched wound.

"Reminder for what?" demanded Annabeth. "Or this just a macho thing?"

"Its a reminder not make the same mistakes. Next time I need to disarm my opponent before I get him in a choke hold." Artie explained. Then he saw Percy. "Hey, Percy, _como vai_?"

"I could ask you the same thing?" said Percy. "Luke been acting weird all day since the fight."

"I expected as much." said Artie. "He really took it badly. That fight was just salt on the wound."

"What are you talking about?"

Annabeth started to say something, but she looked to Artie as if to ask permission. Artie nodded and continued cleaning and dressing his wounds as Annabeth explained, "They may not act like it now, but Luke was like an older brother Artie. When he first got here, he had . . . uh . . . hard time trusting anyone. Luke was the first he managed to open up to."

"Taught me about monsters and how to kill them." added Artie. "Even taught me how read and write in English.

"What happened?" asked Percy. "People don't just stop being friends one day to the next."

"It was when I came back from my quest two months after arriving." Artie answered. "That was when it all went down the drain."

Annabeth nodded, "Luke was worried out of his mind. A camper who hadn't even completed a year of training sent on a quest to Yellowstone National Park by himself. Most of us thought it was suicide."

"Don't forget that the blasted oracle said I was to travel unarmed." added Artie. "I ran all the way to Yellowstone with nothing but the clothes on my back. It was a miracle I made it back at all."

Annabeth continued, "Luke, after Chiron, was the first to meet him when he returned a month later with a magic bow from his mother and a quiver from Hephaestus. He admitted he was a little jealous how well it went for Artie, but he said he was just happy he was back."

"But the straw that broke the camel's back was the next morning, when I was claimed by Artemis." Artie laughed to himself as he remembered, "The look on Mr.D's face was priceless and Chiron was just as surprised."

"Plenty of people choked when it happened, but Luke just got up and walked away from the table." Annabeth explained. "He hardly said a word to anyone the entire week."

"He also avoided me like I was a monster. I finally got him to talk to me, but he just went off." Artie continued ."I'm still trying to understand .He just said I didn't need him anymore. Said I should be used to figuring things out myself or I could just ask my mother for help .He said he watched out for me because Chiron had asked personally. I asked Chiron later and he told me that he never instructed Luke to do anything."

"No one knows except for me, Luke, and Artie what exactly happened," said Annabeth. "And now you. That little match just sent Luke over the edge."

"How so?" Percy asked.

Artie held up five fingers, "I'm stronger than him, not to mention faster too. I smoke just about anyone here at archery, though not in the normal way. He hates the fact he has to depend on me for anything leather related. The only thing he had on me was armed combat and now he doesn't have that. Truth is he's a much better fighter than I ever could be, but if you pile on enough power and speed, experience doesn't count for much and he knows that."

"So what are going to do? Apologize?"

"For being better than him? No chance." said Artie and then he sighed. "There isn't anything I can do. He has a problem with me not the other way around."

As if to end the conversation before Percy could push the matter forward, a conch horn blew signaling that the capture the flag game was close to starting. Percy wanted to know more but he figured it wasn't the right time or place for it.

Artie stood up, "I'd get going you two. See if you can beat Clarisse' cabin. Just make sure you let Luke get the flag i think he needs more than he knows."

"You're not coming?" Percy asked.

"Remember what Grover and I told you?" asked Annabeth cocking her head at Artie.

"Oh right." said Percy, embarrassed he forgot.

"Don't worry about it." said Artie. "Just make sure you give Clarisse a good beating for me. She's been impossible lately."


	4. Percy Gets A Quest

Percy leaned on the railing of cabin three, the Poseidon cabin. He looked to the distance and saw other campers enjoying each other's company. He missed the Hermes cabin. Sure it was overly crowded and rowdy, but it was worth not having to deal with solitude and dealing with the fact he wasn't supposed to be alive.

"Welcome to the club." teased a voice above him.

He looked up as Artie jumped down from the cabin's roof. Like usual we was shirtless with his eyes hidden by sunglasses and his hair hidden by his Party Pony Florida Chapter bandana. Tobias landed on the railing and cawed gently.

"What are you talking about?" Percy asked once he got over being startled.

"I know that look and feeling that comes with it." he admitted. "The solitude is getting to you. We humans are social creatures. We're aren't meant to be by ourselves."

"You don't know what you're talking about." said Percy angrily.

"Sure what could I know about dealing with loneliness? Or cooping with the fact neither of us should be alive?"

"What do you mean? Your mother is Artemis. She isn't one of the Big Three."

"True," Artie admitted. "But she swore on the River Styx to be a maiden for all time. For all intents and purposes I shouldn't be here, yet here I am. The same goes for you.

"I don't understand what you're trying to say."

"We loners need to stick together." Artie explained. "If you ever need help or advice, feel free to ask."

"He might have to." called a voice below them. The looked down and saw an old friend and satyr.

"Grover!" greeted Artie. "_Como vai_?"

"Mr. D and Chiron want to see you both." answered Grover.

"What about?" asked Artie.

"Not sure, but Mr. D is angry and Chiron is nervous."

"That can't be good." said Percy.

"Well Chiron anyway. Mr. D is always mad about something. Let's go. It's like I always say, " Artie hopped over the railing and landed next to Grover. "_O que no mata engorda_."

"What does that mean?" called Percy as he took the steps down.

He smiled, "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger."

* * *

><p>Artie and Percy took their seats at the pinochle table. Chiron was there as well in his wheelchair with Mr. D in his usual leopard skin Hawaiian shirt and sweat pants. He looked up from his cards to address Percy and Artie.<p>

"Well don't expect to kowtow to you just because old barnacle beard's your daddy." said Mr. D, sounding rather bored."I have half a mind to turn you into a dolphin and send you swimming back to you father."

Artie did his best to stifle a laugh, but Mr. D caught it, "And don't think just because you're mommy's precious little boy doesn't mean you're off limits either. For you, I'm thinking of a jackolope. You're mother seems to be found of them."

"Mr. D." warned Chiron.

"However, Chiron thinks it would be against my duties to 'keep you brats safe from harm' and he has another way."

"Transmogrification is a form of harm." said Chiron.

"Nonsense," insisted Mr. D "They wouldn't feel a thing. A slight tingle at best. Better than what you're suggesting at any rate."

"Mr. D." Chiron warned again.

"Oh fine then." Mr. D looked at them as he waved his hand a security pass appeared in his hand, "If they're still here when I return, I'll turn him into an Atlantic bottle nose and the other into jackolope and set his own bird on him and be done with the matter entirely."

With that Mr. D disappeared.

Chiron went ahead explained the reason for summoning them was retrieve Zeus' master bolt before the summer solstice in ten days, in order to prevent a civil war among the gods. Artie was to accompany Percy and aid him. Since he could smell monsters just like any satyr and he would know where monsters, namely Hades' minions, were.

That amazed Percy, "You can do that?"

Artie shrugged, "I never gave it a second thought until I got here. Can't tell you how many times it's come in handy."

"It is much more useful then he lets on." smiled Chiron. "With that nose of his, he can tell which god sired which demigod."

"Which means . . . " Percy said aloud as he thought about it. "You knew how my father was when we first met."

"I had my doubts." admitted Artie. "But with the pact of the big three, I just assumed you spent too much time on the beach or something."

"While not flawless, it has kept the Hermes cabin from being overcrowded, well more than it is now." explained Chiron. "Back to the matter at hand. You accept the quest, Percy?"

"Do I have choice?" he asked looking at Artie.

"I'm not making the choice for you, but personally I'd like to stay on the top of the food chain." He motioned to Tobias, "Though I'm sure Tobias here would be happy either way."

Artie and Chiron waited as Percy went up to to the attic for an audience with the oracle. Artie whispered to Tobias who cawed and took off towards cabin eight. Artie had agreed to join Percy, but he had questions of his own.

"Chiron, if you don't me asking," he started. "What's the real reason you picked me for this?"

"I thought it was obvious." Chiron answered. "Percy hasn't even been here a month and yet he is about to set out on a quest. You accomplished yours under similar conditions."

"Yeah, but that was to discover who my mother was. I didn't go anywhere near the Underworld, unless you count the fight with Orion."

"I agree. Grover volunteered to accompany Percy, but he would be in as much danger as Percy since he is not yet very accomplished in woodland magic. You on the other hand have similar abilities. You can smell any ambushes coming during the day and any who chose to use the cover of night would regret it. Plus as the first child of Artemis, your strength is on par with other children of the big three."

"Wanna run that by me again? What does being the first have to do with anything?"

"Eons of having children with mortals has, for the lack of better word, diluted the bloodline on the godly side. While still powerful, there are no heroes here that can measure to the heroes of old. Except for you, child."

"So what you're saying is since I'm the first child ever of Artemis I'm more . . . godly than most heroes? Kinda like a modern day Hercules or Theseus?"

"Correct. Percy is going need all the protection he can get, so naturally you're my first choice. Also it might do you well if you spent some time away from camp for a while."

"You mean away from Luke. You want me to forget about Luke and replace him with Percy. No offense to him."

"I wouldn't use the word replace, regain perhaps. But until you patch things up with him, you could use a friend that doesn't squeak, chirp, or otherwise communicate in a way only you and satyrs can understand."

Artie thought about his life and childhood back in Rio. He knew demigods were known to lead hard lives and he was no exception .As a child he had a hard time forming a bonds with any other children his age and few friends he had, didn't last very long. He learned to accept that he was different and the solitude that came with that difference. His only companions were the wild birds and stray animals that roamed the city in search of food.

Artie's mental flashback was interrupted as Percy returned from his audience with the oracle. Percy looked a little shaken, but then so did he when he consulted the oracle. Percy recited the prophecy given to him. Artie sensed he was leaving something out, like a crucial detail that might get them killed, but he didn't say anything.

Chiron must have guess the same by the look on his face, but all he said was, "You are allowed two companions to travel with you. Artie has already agreed to be the first and another camper has offered to join you."

Artie smiled, "Let me guess."

Annabeth appeared out of thin air as she took off her Yankees cap. She was packed and ready to go. Her knife strapped to her arm and a wry smile aimed at Percy

She said confidently, "I've been waiting for a quest a long time, seaweed brain. Athena's no fan of Poseidon, but if you're gonna save the world, I'm the best one to stop you from messing up."

As if to punctuate her words, Tobias returned with a bronze quiver in his talons that he dropped on the table before settling on Artie's shoulder. As he flew a small fox carried a small leather satchel in his mouth which he dropped at Artie's feet before scampering off into the forest.

Artie smiled as he donned his quiver, "Well, Annabeth and I are packed. Better get a move on, Percy. We are on a deadline."


	5. A Good Start

After everyone packed, Argus drove the trio into the city. Both Annabeth and Percy had a bag with a change of clothes, money, and their weapons. Chiron had given Percy Riptide, a magic sword that looked like a pen until it was uncapped while Annabeth had her bronze her knife, Artie was another matter entirely.

Annabeth was concerned how light Artie had packed. All Artie had was a small leather satchel. It looked like it had a lot of room to spare with a small canteen of nectar hanging from it. His knives hung from his belt along with chain that lead to a pocket watch his uncle, Apollo, had given him. And of course the flying shoes Percy had given him since Chiron had warned him to to take to the air. The flying shoes had shifted into the Greek sandals Artie had always worn. Unless he activated them, you wouldn't have seen a difference.

Annabeth had seen the watch before. It was shaped like the sun though from far away it looked like a flower, a sunflower to be exact. She could also see he was wearing his magic quiver, a gift from Hephaestus from his first quest, which under the mist looked like a slim yellow tube used for carrying maps and paintings. Though she couldn't see his bow, she knew Artie always kept it close in hand, literally.

After spending so much time at Camp Half Blood, Percy stared at every billboard, fast food joint, and little children with their families. Artie caught him as he stretched to see an old fashioned McDonald's.

"Feels weird doesn't it?" he asked. "Spend enough time around a mythical camp for demigods and suddenly a Big Mac looks like the golden fleece."

"A little." Percy admitted.

It was mid afternoon when Argus finally pulled into the bus station, due to the heavy traffic. He unloaded their bags and made sure they had their tickets before waving goodbye and driving off. Percy and Annabeth passed the time kicking around a hackey sack they had found. Artie sat back on a bench and took out his celestial bronze encased iPod. He was about to his play when Annabeth snatched it out his hands.

"_Pelo amor de deus, _Annabeth!" complained Artie in Brazilian. "What do you have against _Samba_?"

"Nothing at all." She snapped as she pocketed the iPod. "But I do have something against being attacked when I have been away from camp less than an hour."

"_Meu deus_."Artie grumbled to himself. "Alright fine then. I'll just have to go Plan B"

"Plan B?" asked Percy.

Artie took out his pocket watch that Apollo had given him. The rays that surrounded it shined so bright they almost glowed yellow. The middle was a reddish orange like a sunset. Artie opened to check the time and then closed it. He twisted the top to wind the watch before pushing it straight into the watch the watch grew. A long bar sprang from it forming a neck of a guitar complete with strings and machines heads to tune it. The face of watch grew into the body with the rays of the suns melting together to form a wavy design. In less than a second Artie's pocket watch turned into an electric guitar complete with knobs and a whammy bar.

Artie strummed it. Normally electric guitars required an amp to play, but this one didn't ignored the amazed stares from Percy and Annabeth and began tuning it, turning the machine head while strumming until it sounded right to him. Tobias swooped down and dropped a worn flat cap at their feet before taking off again. Artie fished out a couple of drachma and tossed them into the hat as he began to play.

The melody sound familiar to Percy but he couldn't put his finger on it. It wasn't English, it had the sound and feel of another country ,somewhere from south America he guessed. He continued to think about as Artie began to sing softly as he played, that was when he remembered where Artie was from.

_Veja como È rico o nosso riso_

_ O sol È feliz de saber rir tambÈm_

_ àgua verde rindo, mares vindo_

_ Tudo È samba, e o samba vem sambar meu bem_

_ Para ter um amor e um pouquinho de Rio_

_ Onde a paixÖo È o riso de alguÈm_

_ Vou te dar calor e um carinho de ritmo_

_ Todo meu amor por natureza vem, vem_

_ è tanta beleza a se perder de vista_

_ Cidade floresta, meu cantinho quintal_

_ Faz 40 graus para esquentar a vida_

_ Faz uma batida pra ficar legal_

_ Todo dia È dia de beijar o sol_

_ Samba na batida projetos e rimas_

_ NÖo tem fantasia tudo È carnaval_

Artie's voice gently stopped as he continued to play the playful melody of his homeland. Percy couldn't understand a word of it but he didn't care, the melody mixed with the gentle tone of Artie's voice sent calming sensations to his body like a mother singing to soothe her crying child. Annabeth also seemed mesmerized by the song as she swayed side to side to the gentle melody.

Percy saw they weren't the only ones who were enjoying Artie's music. People deposited coins and crumpled bills in the hat at his feet. By the time their bus arrived, Artie had, with no real effort, made nearly one hundred dollars in coins and bills which he gave to the homeless man sitting on the bench a few feet away from them. To Percy's surprise there were even several drachma at the bottom of the hat which Artie made sure to pocket before giving the rest away.

Once it was time to board the bus. Artie simply squeezed the guitar from both ends and it shrank back into a pocket watch. He casually slipped back into his pocket. They boarded and sat the back of the bus.

"Where did you get that?" asked Percy once they found their seats.

"A gift from my uncle." Artie answered. "He gave it to me for my birthday last year."

"Your uncle?" asked Percy.

"Apollo, seaweed brain." said Annabeth. "He's Artemis' twin brother. That makes him Artie's uncle on the Olympian side of the family. He's also the god of music which explains the guitar."

Artie nodded, "Yeah, I learned to play when I was — "

Artie froze and frowned.

Percy wasn't sure why he stopped mid sentence, "When you were . . . "

Artie sniffed the air like a bloodhound.

"Not yet!" Annabeth instantly understood and began looking around, "We haven't even left yet."

Artie continued to sniff as he spoke and looked around trying to locate the source of the scent, "Never . . . smelt . . . this before . . . but I'm sure . . . it's close." He looked to end of the bus and his jaw dropped, "It's them."

Percy and Annabeth looked to the end of the bus. Three old ladies had just boarded. They looked like sisters with their matching purses and clothes. They had to be at least eighty years old, but based on their scent Artie guessed them to much older, several hundred years much older.

"The middle one is — ." said Percy.

"The Fu — I mean the one who attacked you at school?" asked Artie.

"Yeah." said Percy before turning to Annabeth. "I though you said it took them years to reform."

"I also said if you're lucky." snapped Annabeth. "Clearly you're not."

_So we're stuck with three Furies on a bus_, Artie thought to himself as he watched them

The middle one, Mrs. Dodds apparently, mark the floor with her shoe. It was so casual anyone could have missed it, but it was clear. No one was to leave. The old ladies sat near the front door as the rest of the passengers boarded and the bus left the station.

Artie gripped his knife as he watched the old ladies like a hawk, "Annabeth, please tell me there's a back exit on this bus." he said keeping his voice calm and quiet.

"They're blocking the only door." she whispered.

"Windows?" suggested Percy.

"They don't open." responded Annabeth doing her best not panic.

Artie looked out the window and saw they had a minute or two before the bus entered the Lincoln tunnel. He guessed they would wait until the bus entered the tunnel. It was a standard hunting technique, force your prey into an area where you could easily stop its escape. If by some miracle they managed to get off the bus alive, they would only have two directions to run; either farther down the tunnel or back the way the bus came in. He was sure if it came to a fight he would have to find a way to lead them outside where he had more room to use his bow without endangering the people on board.

Artie strained his mind to think of something, he looked to Annabeth who had apparently beat him to the punch.

"Here, take my cap," she said shoving it into Percy's hands.

"What?" Percy asked unsure what she meant.

"They're after you." she explained. "Put it on and slip past them."

Percy vanished the second the hat touched his head. Artie had to assume he went ahead and sat farther down. His heart stopped when she froze and sniffed the air. Artie carefully slipped a knife out of his sheath and folded his hands to hide it. He saw Annabeth keeping her hand on her shoulder in case she had to draw hers.

The bus plunged into darkness as it entered the Lincoln tunnel. The only light was coming from street light that hung in the tunnel itself. The Furies stood in front of them growling as their purses turned into burning whips. Along with the purses, the Furies shifted into their true forms becoming a cross between giants bats and grannies with a serious anger management issues.

"Where is it?" Mrs. Dodds demanded. "Where?"

"He's not here." Artie's grip tightened on his knife, "He's gone."

Both he and Annabeth drew their knives as the Furies raised their whips. Artie's knife was a hairsbreadth away from entering the nearest Fury when the whole bus lurched and skidding against the wall forcing him to crash into her. The Furies along with everyone else fought to regain their balance as Percy and the driver fought for the wheel which caused the bus weave,smashing countless car in the process.

The driver managed to regain control and took the nearest exit before stopping the bus near the woods and Hudson river. The driver opened the door and ran screaming followed by the rest of the passengers till only the Furies and demigods were left. Percy looked out towards the open door then looked to where his friends were finding their balance along with the Furies.

Percy took off the hat and shimmered into view. "Hey!" he called to Mrs. Dodds

She hissed as she turned her head and advanced towards him with her two sisters climbing over the seats. "You have offended the gods, Perseus Jackson. You shall die."

"I liked you better as a math teacher." he responded.

Dodds along with her sisters flicked their whips, completely forgetting about Artie and Annabeth who were creeping up behind them, weapons at the ready. Percy readied his own, uncapping Riptide allowing to grow to its full three foot length.

"Submit now." Dodds hissed . "And you will not suffer eternal punishment."

"Nice try." he told her.

Dodds lashed her whip and it wrapped around Percy's hand. Steam hissed from where it touched his skin, but he managed not to drop the sword. Annabeth stabbed the nearest Fury and she erupted into dust. This got Dodd's attention just long enough for Percy to free his hand and slash the other Fury as she pounced.

Artie jumped on the remaining Fury, stopping her from opening her wings. He managed to wraps his hands around her head and snapped her neck. It didn't even phase her as she twisted her neck till she was face to face with the demigod on her back and sunk her razor sharp teeth into his shoulder. Artie winced and returned the favor, biting down hard on her exposed neck. Needless to say, she let go leaving several small punctures in Artie's shoulder.

They separated both with each other's blood dripping from their mouths. Mrs. Dodds hissed at Artie who responded with a nasty snarl. Percy knew Artie was a tough fighter, but he never seen this savage side of him. With the way he stood and with the blood dripping from his mouth staining his tank top, he reminded Percy of one of those feral vampires that seem to be replacing the classic suave ones. Percy was so stunned he didn't even noticed what Annabeth was doing.

Using a t-shirt, she picked up 's whip and threw it around her. She yanked hard and sent her to the ground. Artie rushed and held her down as Annabeth began wrapping the whip around her legs. She bucked and screeched, completely drowning out the sound of thunder until Annabeth stuffed the burning remains of the shirt in her mouth.

Artie stood up and sniffed just as Percy felt the thunder from the storm shake the bus.

"Get out!" He yelled. "Now!"

Percy yelped at Artie blurred past him and plucked him like paper bag with Annabeth close behind. They made it out just in time as lightning struck the bus causing a huge explosions. howled and screeched as flames engulfed her and the entire bus.

"_Está brincando_" cursed Artie in Brazilian. "What does it take to kill those things?"

"Run." cried Annabeth."She calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here."

Without looking back they plunged into the woods. Percy looked back and saw the flaming wreckage that was once bus still with a roasted inside. Then he looked at the darkness ahead and ran.

"Not bad for the first day." said Artie despite the huge bleeding bite wound on his shoulder. "I've had worst."

"Would stop talking like that?" complained Annabeth as she ran. "We're barely out of New York and we've lost everything. Our clothes, our cash. We don't even have a single toothbrush between the three of us."

"Speak for yourself." said Artie. "I still have mine."

Percy kept quiet. He was feeling uneasy. Not even two days out of camp and they were running through the woods in the rain with no money and no transportation. He doubted they would even make it out of the woods, let alone all the way to Los Angeles and back.

Percy had the feeling they had just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.

The rain began to let up as they walked through woods. Artie was used to traveling in worse conditions with nothing but a pair of knives and the clothes on his back. Although he bandaged his shoulder with his tank top so it was just a figure of speech.

"So three kindly ones." Artie mused. "That's . . . unsettling. Still we'll be fine."

"But our bags were back there." reminded Percy. "All of our clothes, our food, even our cash. Everything."

"Well, maybe if you hadn't jumped into the fight —" began Annabeth.

"I couldn't just leave you guys there." defended Percy.

"I didn't need you to protect me." she said. "I would have been fine."

"Shredded like paper." Artie added. "But fine."

"Oh shut up, Pac-Man." Annabeth told him. "How did that Fury taste?"

Artie smacked his lips as he though about it, "Kinda like that time I ate expired terayaki jerky. Not the worst I've had, but I'm not eager to do that again."

"I think I'm gonna be sick." she moaned.

"That reminds me," he said. "I'm getting kinda hungry. How about you guys."

"Did you hear Percy? All our food was in our bags."

"Well, you're food anyway. I didn't pack any."

"We can't buy food, we're broke. Our cash went up with our food."

Artie held up his wallet, "I keep mine on me."

Annabeth looked skeptical, "I doubt you have enough for three all the way to L. A."

He opened his wallet, "I got maybe twenty dollars, but there's no need to buy food. Not yet anyway."

"What do you mean?" asked Percy, not sure he was liked where this was going.

Artie sniffed the air and smiled. He walked to a tree stuck his hand in the gap under the roots and pulled out something furry.

"There's a reason they say 'multiplying like rabbits'." Artie held up a hare y the ears. "They're plentiful even this close to a city and they're pretty healthy for you too"

Percy just stared at the terrified hare Artie held by the ears. It kicked around and tried run but it was well off the ground. It was a lot smaller than the rabbit Percy and Annabeth were used to seeing in pet stores, then again those did nothing but eat and sleep while these were wild,constantly fighting to survive.

Annabeth looked appalled "I am not eating that."

"Since when did you go vegan?"

"I'm not."

"Then what's the problem? It'll take me two minutes to gut and skin this and you'll have the best _cogumelos recheados de coelho _you ever had."

"Cog-What?" asked Percy.

"Brazilian for mushroom stuffed rabbit." explained Artie. "Slowly roasted for a fire with the juices from the mushrooms mixing with the meat . . . my mouth is watering just thinking about it."

"That does sound good." admitted Percy.

"Percy!" cried Annabeth. "Look at him and then tell me that still sounds good."

Percy did and then he wasn't hungry anymore. He couldn't understand animals like Grover or Artie could, but he could swear it was begging Percy to let him go. He wouldn't want to be eaten himself, but he wasn't about to swear off meat all together. He was hungry that much he knew, but not that hungry . . . not yet anyway.

"I think I'll pass for now." he finally decided. "I can wait a little longer for dinner."

Annabeth smiled, but Artie just sighed as if expecting it, "Twenty-bucks says you change your mind by tomorrow night if we don't find food by then." He turned to the rabbit in his hand, "Looks like you get a free pass buddy."

Artie set him down but it didn't scamper off, not right away anyway. It went to Percy and Annabeth and nuzzled their legs before returning under the tree where Artie caught him.

"I don't suppose I could interest you guys in some free range pigeon?" Artie asked hopefully.

Annabeth didn't answer. She just pushed ahead muttering something about idiot and she was surrounded by them. Percy followed suited and trudged behind her. Artie just chuckled to himself and brought up the rear.


	6. Not A Bad First Day

The rain began to let up as they trio trudged through the woods until Percy saw lights up ahead and Artie said he smelt fast food which did wonders to speed Annabeth and Percy on their way. They eventually came to a deserted road with an abandoned gas station, a bill board for a 1990's movie, and one open business which was the source of the light and more importantly the smell of food. Unfortunately it wasn't a restaurant like Percy and Annabeth had hoped for. It looked like one those curio stand you find on the side of empty roads that sold hand made lawn flamingos and native American knick knacks. The main building was a low worn warehouse surrounded by acres of statues. Above the entrance gate was a red neon sign. Due to his dyslexia, Percy couldn't make out the red cursive writing.

"What does it say?" he asked Annabeth.

"I don't know." she answered. "Artie?"

Artie shrugged, "It could say 'Shortcut To Underworld' for all I know."

Percy and Annabeth crossed the street and walked through the front lot to the entrance as Artie brought up the rear. As they walked past statue after statue, Artie could help feeling uneasy. He had been ambushed enough times in his life to know when to trust his instincts, then gain those same instincts caused him to overreact. It was those same instincts that taught everyone not to tap his shoulder from behind unless they wanted a broken finger or wrist. Artie had done his best to learn to relax but every night his still slept with a knife in hand and his back against a wall, jumping awake at the slightest noise. Still, Artie thought, better safe than sorry.

"Let's turn back." said Artie. "This place feels off."

"The lights are on." said Annabeth. "Maybe it's open."

"Snack bar?" asked Percy.

"Snack bar." she answered.

They continued walking and stopped at the front door. Artie did his best to calm his nerves, but it was a hard fight. This place had all the tell-tale signs of an ambush. It was deadly silent which was strange. At the very least there should have been crickets or small animals scampering in the woods. That was another sign. As they reached the road Artie thought it was strange that the few animals they had come across,were running away from this place, as if they knew it was a place to avoid.

Percy raised his hand to knock when Artie stopped him, "Stop! It's a trap."

Annabeth gave him a look, "A trap?"

"I smell monsters too." Artie added.

"All I smell hamburgers." Percy said.

"Yeah." agreed Annabeth. "You're nose is still clogged up those Furies."

Percy turn to knock when the door opened and revealed a middle eastern woman, or it was a fair assumption to make. She wore a long black gown that covered everything except her hands, which were well manicured but wrinkled. Artie and Percy guessed her to be an older woman, a grandmother perhaps. On her head was veil that hid her face from view. You just make out her eyes behind a layer of black gauze.

Her accent only seemed to reinforced that she was middle eastern. "Children, it is too late for you to be all alone. Where are your parents?"

Annabeth hesitated, "They're . . . um . . . "

"We're orphans." said Percy.

"Orphans?" asked the woman. "Oh my dears. Surely not."

"We were separated from our circus caravan." continued Percy. "The ring master told us to meet him at the gas station if we got lost, but I think he meant another gas station. Is that food I smell?"

"Oh my dears." the women said." You must come in, poor children. I am Aunty Em and this is my garden emporium. Please to go to the back of the warehouse. There is a dining area."

They thanked her and walked inside. Artie still could not shake the feeling he was in danger. It's just statuary place, he told himself. The worst thing in here is ugly ceramic gnomes. Artie was too busy convincing himself, he failed to notice Aunty Em had locked the door behind them. Percy and Annabeth were too occupied talking to notice either.

"Circus caravan?" Annabeth whispered to Percy.

"Always have a plan right?" he answered.

"You're head is so full of kelp."

They reached the dining areas and saw that It had everything you could want. A grill for burgers with a soda fountain and a nacho cheese dispenser. There was pretzel heater and a deep fryer for french fries and onion rings. There were even several steel picnic tabled in case a lot of people showed up. Aunty Em walked behind the counter and motion for them to sit.

"Um, we don't have any money ma'am." said Artie,

Percy was about to elbow him in the ribs when Aunty Em said, "No no children. No money. This is a special case. It is how you say, my treat."

"Thank you ma'am." said Annabeth.

Suddenly Aunty Em stiffened, as if Annabeth had done something wrong, but relaxed just as quickly. "Quite alright, Annabeth. You have such beautiful gray eyes child."

Artie blinked as Aunty Em disappeared behind the counter and began cooking. Maybe he missed it when he was trying to relax his nerves, but he was sure they hadn't introduced themselves. They had to have done so at some point, he reasoned. Nothing else explained how she knew Annabeth's name. He then looked down and saw he was still using his tank top as a bandaged on where the Fury sank her teeth into his shoulder.

Carefully, he unwrapped his shoulder and slipped it on his shirt. The bleeding had stopped which worried him. A wound this bad shouldn't heal that fast without proper treatment. He was fairly sure Furies weren't venomous, but gods only knew what kind of germs they carried. He only hoped that the Fury was just as worried about the chunk he ripped out. He touched his shoulder and found it sensitive and warm to his touch. That's it, he decided, he was going to treat his shoulder first thing in the morning.

Before long Aunty Em returned with plastic trays heaped with double cheeseburgers, vanilla shakes, and XXL servings of french fries. Percy was halfway through his burger when he remembered to breath as Annabeth slurped her shake and Artie picked at his fries, too nervous to dig in.

He lifted his head suddenly, "Anyone else hear a hissing noise?"

"Hissing?" asked Percy.

"Yeah, kinda like a bunch of snakes mixed together."

"Perhaps you hear the deep fryer oil." offered Aunty Em. "You have keen ears, Artemis."

"They've come in handy." said Artie. "I don't like for people to sneak up on me."

"That's admirable." said Aunty Em. "But please, relax."

Artie nodded and did his best to focus on his food and not the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach or that annoying mental itch in the back of his head.

Satisfied with a full stomach, Percy decided to make small talk with their hostess. "So you sell gnomes?"

"Oh yes." said Aunty Em. "And animals. And People. Anything for the garden really. Statuary is very popular, you know."

"A lot of business on this road?"

"Not since the highway was built. Most don't come this way anymore, so I must cherish every customer I get."

Unable to shake to the feeling he was being watched Artie looked behind him. It was a statue of a little girl with an Easter basket. Artie was amazed at the detail and wondered how talented one would have to be to match it. He guessed only Beckendorf from the Hephaestus could match her skill. The only thing that seemed off was the face. She looked startled, like someone had snapped a picture of her while she wasn't looking.

"Ah." said Aunty Em sadly. "You notice some of my creations don't turn out well. The face is always the hardest to get just right. Always the face, always."

"You make these yourself?"

"Oh yes. For a while I had two sisters who would help me, but they have passed on. That is why I make statues, they are my company." explained Aunty Em sadly.

Annabeth froze mid bite as Artie sat forward and asked, "Two sisters?"

Artie wasn't sure why this caught his attention, but he was sure it was important and apparently so did Annabeth since she watched Aunty Em with new found interest. That mental itch was becoming more like fly buzzing near his ear, hard to ignore. Clearly he was missing something.

"It's a terrible story." Aunty Em said. "Not one for children."

"Please go on." insisted Annabeth.

"You see Annabeth," she began. "A bad woman was jealous of me, long ago,when I was young. I had a . . . boyfriend, you know, and this woman was determined to break us apart. She caused a terrible accident. My sisters stay by and shared my misfortune as long as they could, but eventually they passed on. I alone survived, but at such a price. Such a price."

If this was a cartoon, Artie was sure his head would turn into a red swirling light and a loud siren. It wasn't just his nerves, They were in danger the second this old lady answered the door and invited them inside. Artie imagined a small version of himself on his shoulder holding a picture of a donkey, like something out of an old cartoon. Maybe if he stayed calm and didn't let on he knew who she was, then they might be able to leave without a fight. Somehow he really doubted it.

Annabeth poked Percy, "Percy, maybe we should go. I mean the ringmaster will be waiting."

"Such beautiful gray eyes." She told Annabeth again. "My stars, yes, It has been a long time since I've seen gray eyes like those."

She reached out to touch Annabeth's cheek, but she stood abruptly, "We really should go."

"Yes!" agreed Artie jumping to his feet rather quickly, eager to leave. "The ringmaster is waiting. We'll have to clean out the tiger cage if we're late."

Aunty Em began pleading sweetly, "Please, I so rarely get to be with children. Won't you please stay for a pose?"

"A pose?" asked Artie.

"A photograph." explained Aunty Em. " I will use it to model a new statue. Everyone love children, you see."

Artie was about to speak when Annabeth said, "I don't think we can ma'am. Come on, Percy -"

"Sure we can." assured Percy, getting a little annoyed that Annabeth was being rude to a sweet old lady that had just fed them. "It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?"

"Yes, Annabeth." purred the woman. "No harm."

Artie would have smacked the back of Percy's head, but Aunty Em separated them as she led them back into the front lot filled with statues. Annabeth also seemed to be on edge, but she kept quiet, no doubt forming a plan, hopefully better than his. Maybe plan was a bit of stretch. So far his plan consisted of faking a yawn and drawing an arrow from his quiver, making sure Aunty Em didn't see it. For whatever reason, she seemed more focused on Percy and Annabeth which was fine by Artie.

Aunty Em stopped at a bench. "Now I'll just position you correctly. The young girl in the middle with a gentleman on either side."

"Not much light for a photo." remarked Percy.

"Oh, enough." she assured. "Enough light for us to see each other."

"Where's your camera?" asked Artie, uneasy.

Aunty Em ignored the question and stood back to admire the shot. "Now the face is always the most difficult. Can you all smile for me please? A large smile."

Artie noticed the cement satyr next to him, frozen in terror. "That looks a lot like Grover."

"Artemis!" chastised Aunty Em. "Look this way please."

That stone satyr looked to real just to be a statue. If Artie was right about who this lady was, then he knew why she still didn't have a camera in her hands. He forced himself to wait for the right opportunity to fire his arrow, hopefully his hands wouldn't shake and take too long to fire.

"I will be just a moment." said Aunty Em. "You know, I can't see very well in this cursed veil . . . "

Artie let the arrow drop till he was holding the very end with his fingertips just as Aunty Em reached up behind her head to remove her headdress. He took a deep breath and opened his left hand where a polished silver ring rested on his ring finger.

What happened from there, happened in slow motion.

Annabeth tackled Percy to the ground just as his silver ring sprang into a silver hunting bow, a gift from his mother. The bow was, of course, magic. From a small a silver ring, a bow appeared in Artie's hand. At the bow's full size, it was little over two meters tall which was needed greatly for great distances. Artie had learned it was made to resemble a samurai's _Yumi_ bow, though it had delicate Greek carvings running down the length of the bow's limb, depicting a group of hunters running through a forest with a star filled sky.

In the time it took for Annabeth to tackle Percy to the ground, Artie closed his eyes and loosed the arrow. Artie didn't dare open his eyes for two reasons. First, he hand no desire to be turned into stone by Medusa's gaze. Second, he would have succeeded in blinding himself as well as Medusa. He done that already once, when he first got the quiver and while it was temporary, he didn't want a repeat mistake.

A half second later he heard a faint explosion followed by a bellow from a blinded Medusa. Artie guessed Medusa was stumbling backward from the receding footsteps and the the sound of hissing snakes growing slightly fainter. The solar arrow, as he called it, would level out the playing field for a few seconds. They couldn't see Medusa but she wouldn't be able to see them, giving them a chance to form a plan. Artie drew another arrow, nocked it, and tried to zone on Medusa position from the sound of her hissing hair.

"Do you really wish to help the gods?" she asked. "Do you know what awaits you on this foolish quest, Percy? In the Underworld? It would be better if you became a statue. Less pain, Percy, less pain."

Artie smiled a shot another arrow. He heard his arrow slice through something and shatter on a statue behind her. He would have opened his eyes, but the angry hissing was still there.

"How dare you?" Medusa demanded. "No one cuts my hair! No one!"

"I'm sorry. Let me even that out for you." said Artie as fired more arrows at random, hoping to get a lucky shot.

Clearly Artie's luck had run out. He heard his arrows race past as Medusa ran towards him. Instinctively Artie stepped back just as something slashed an inch from his face. He reached for an arrow just as something smashed into the back of his head, sending him to floor. In his haste to avoid getting slashed to ribbons, Artie had backed up into a statue. Taking the advantage, Medusa hauled Artie to his feet and embraced him.

Part of Artie wondered why the most famous and hideous of the three gorgon sisters was giving him a hug, like she was greeting a grandson. The rest of him struggled against his iron grip. With her face inches from his, her hair sounded like a radio with nothing but static. Although this static ran across his face and snapped by his ear.

"Don't be shy guys." Artie called out. "Feel free to tag in anytime now."

Even with eyes closed Artie could feel several snakes slithering around his injured shoulder which felt inflamed and sensitive. The sensitivity became apparent when he felt at least three sink their fangs into it. He screamed as he felt them inject liquid, venom part of him realized.

"The first child of the moon." sneered Medusa. "I expected more."

"Expect this!" snarled Artie as he drew his head back, intending to headbutt her nose back into her head.

Then something unexpected happened. Artie heard it a split second before he was planning his head forward. With his eyes still closed,Artie a swish which was quickly followed by a sickening shlock. Artie felt something bounce of his chest and land at his feet as Medusa's grip vanish as the hissing was replaced with the sound of wind escaping a cavern, the sound he had come know as a monster disintegrating.

Artie was about to look down when Annabeth cried,"Don't look!"

Percy kept his gaze towards the sky as Artie looked away. Annabeth bent down and carefully wrapped Medusa's head in her veil, making sure not to look at it. She let them know it was safe once she finished. Percy sighed a breath of relief while Artie steadied himself with a nearby statue.

"So we have Athena to thank for that." said Percy.

Annabeth flashed him an irritated look," It was your dad actually. He . . . ."

"It was both their faults!" snapped Artie.

"What?" they asked.

"I'm not gonna say what Percy's did was right, but Athena clearly over reacted" said Artie. "Now if you two would be kind enough to stop arguing, We have to decided we're gonna do with the head, cause I'm not gonna lug that thing all they way to LA."


	7. What It Means

Four years of being chased and hunted had taught Artie one thing, be grateful for even the smallest blessing.

This went through his head as they made camp in a marshy clearing a few hundred yards from the main road. The particular blessing happened to be Annabeth's love for the national geographic and nature shows. They always seemed harmless to him. Interesting maybe, but what good did knowing what year the battle of Saratoga was fought do when fighting monsters? Still, he relaxed a little when Annabeth told him what the snake in Medusa's hair were.

"_Vipera aspis_" said Annabeth as she remembered word for word what she read. "Or more commonly known as the aspic viper."

"Alright." said Artie, doing his best to fight off nausea. "How potent is the venom? Like, should I have Percy take my final thoughts or what?"

Annabeth struggled to remember, "I think it said, bites from this species can be more severe than from the European adder but only about four percent of all untreated bites are fatal."

Artie breathed a sigh of relief. "That I can handle."

Percy did a double take, "And if you're in that four percent?"

"Four percentof all _untreated_ wounds." repeated Artie. "Plus, as demigods, we have a small tolerance to venom. Although I wouldn't recommend getting a black mamba for a pet."

They agreed to sleep in shifts with Percy taking the first watch. Normally Artie would have built a small fire but after the Furies and Medusa, Annabeth warned it might attract something else. He envied Annabeth as she fell asleep in seconds. Percy saw him watching and smiled.

"Go ahead man." he assured. "Catch some Z's"

Artie nodded. Sleep sounded like a great idea. "First things first."

Artie rummaged through his satchel and brought out medical supplies, a mix mortal and demigod provisions. A needle and thread followed by a canteen nectar. Artie frowned at his shoulder. He needed to see what he was doing, which meant one thing.

Artie looked at Percy,"I'm about to do something that might freak you out, so brace yourself."

Percy chuckled darkly, "After the Furies and Medusa I don't think anything can freak me o-o-o-o-o- . . . "

Percy's voice trailed off when Artie removed his sunglasses. It was as if he or someone replaced his eyeballs with brightly polished silver replicas. They seemed to glow in the faint moonlight. Percy thought it was a trick of the light as he tried to find Artie's pupils or the color of his irises, then he realized that he couldn't see them because Artie didn't have them. If Percy didn't know better he would though Artie was a monster and would have uncapped Riptide and charged.

Artie smiled slightly, "Thanks for freaking out."

"D-d-don't mention it?" offered Percy, surprised his voice even worked.

Normally he would have asked a million questions at once, but he decided not to. Artie had kept his eyes a secret for a reason and Percy figured he would explain if and when he wanted to. At the very least it explained why he always wore sunglasses, even at night or during meals. He got enough stares as it was and he clearly didn't want to add fuel to the fire.

Percy held his tongue as Artie went to work on his shoulder. Artie drew both his Bolo knives and stuck one his mouth. His other knife hovered over his injured shoulder and took a deep breath as he sliced open his shoulder. He winced as a moan escaped from behind the knife. The self inflicted wound bled very little or rather it bled very slowly. That meant the coagulants in the venom were starting to take effect. Artie rolled his eyes when he saw and realized what needed to be done, another cut or make the first one bigger. Artie cursed in Portuguese as he quickly made another slice a few inches behind the first. The second one bled slightly faster but something yellow was clearly mixing with his blood. An infection had started, but he caught it early.

Normally Percy would have called anyone who intentionally sliced themselves open crazy, but Artie seem to know what he was doing. Artie pressed down on his shoulder, squeezing out a lot of thick blood that came out like extra thick maple syrup. Clearly it was painful, judging by the look on Artie's face and the controlled grunting but he just kept pressing down. He then emptied a water canteen he kept at his belt and washed off all the blood sludge.

Artie let himself relax. The hard part was over. The venom was out of his system and the small amount that wasn't, would be cleared by the nectar. He sliced a piece of his shirt and soaked in nectar before sheathing his knives and setting the nectar soaked cloth in his shoulder.

He sat against a tree covered in sweat and noticed the stare from Percy, "You're wondering about the eyes, aren't you?"

Percy shook his head, "I've heard adding insult to injury, but never injury to injury. Shouldn't the nectar be enough?"

"Normally yes, but when it comes to more . . . exotic injuries. I'd rather be safe than sorry."

"You've done this before?"

"A couple of times. Some of this I picked up from the Apollo campers in the infirmary, but I mostly learned from a . . . friend who knew a lot about medicine."

Percy thought Artie was intentionally leaving him in the dark about certain things, but he decided not to bring it up. Artie would tell him when he told him. "And the eyes?"

Artie chuckled lightly,"A blessing from mummy dearest. I could always see better than most at night when I was little, but when I got to Camp Half Blood . . . Well, et's just say it doesn't matter if its day or night for me anymore."

"You can see in the dark?"

Artie nodded, "As long there is some moonlight. If there's a new moon though, I can't see any better than the next person."

Percy was about ask what a new moon was when he noticed Artie's shoulder, "Uh, you're shoulder is smoking."

Artie looked at the tiny wisps of steam escaping from under the nectar soaked cloth, "Oh, that's the nectar burning away the venom and the whatever germs Dodds left when she bit me."

"Oh . . . of course."

Artie looked at his shoulder and took off the cloth.

Percy saw it was looked alright, as alright as two long cuts could look like. Artie soaked the thread in nectar along with the tip of the needle. He threaded the needle and went to work stitching up his wounds. Clearly Artie had done this before as hummed to himself and didn't show the slightest bit of pain. He cut the thread with his teeth and stored everything back in his satchel.

Artie was careful was to not move his shoulder too much using his left arm as little as possible. As he did Tobias cawed gently and landed on the floor next to him. Percy guessed Tobias was following them from the sky and had lost them when the bus looked at Artie's shoulder and cawed like he was irritated.

"I'm fine." assured Artie. "Just a scratch or two."

Tobias turn to face Percy,staring daggers at him. He flapped his wings and made a _guh-runk_ sound deep in his throat, clearly mad at Percy for some reason.

"Leave him alone." Artie told the bird. "It's not his fault."

"Whats wrong with him?" asked Percy.

"He's demanding why I'm the only one hurt." explained Artie. "He a little protective." Tobias chirped at Artie quizzically. "Already? I thought it wasn't until tomorrow night."

"What?"

"The full moon." Artie answered. "I was sure it wasn't until tomorrow night."

As if to answer, a cloud moved to reveal the full moon which lit up the night with a dim light. The trees covered most of the clearing but moonlight shone through between the gap of leaves and branches. Artie closed his and smiled as the he bathed in moonlight like a tanning bed. It was if he was plant soaking up the sun's rays only it was the moon.

"Thanks" Artie said before he muttered to himself so quietly Percy almost didn't catch it. "_That's all you're getting from me_."

Percy noticed that the wound on Artie's shoulder began closing up. Like when the creek healed Percy's wounds from the hellhound, the moonlight was doing the same for Artie. It also did something else which Percy found unsettling, almost as much when Artie revealed his eyes.

All across his chest, arms, and legs were dozens upon dozen of white scars. Until then, Percy only thought Artie had two scars which Annabeth explained were from the monsters that attacked him in Rio. The star shaped scar on his right shoulder about the size of half dollar and the matching scar just below his left knee. Now with the moonlight, Percy saw Artie had been stabbed, stung, scratched, slashed, and bitten every which way all over his body. Only his face seemed to be fine except for three lines along his right cheek.

"How are you still alive?" Percy blurted out unable to control his ADHD.

Artie laughed to himself, "When I figure it out, you'll be the first to know."

"I'm sorry . . . I didn't mean."

"Don't worry about it. Let's just get some sleep. Tobias can keep watch. Won't you?"

Tobias flashed Artie an irritated look and flew up the branch on the tree Artie was leaning against. Artie waited for Percy to fall asleep which didn't take long, a minute at most, before drawing a knife and closed his eyes. Normally it took Artie a while to fall asleep but after the bus crash, the Furies, and Medusa Artie fell asleep almost instantly. And just as fast his dreams kicked in, Artie just hope HE wouldn't be there. Artie really didn't want to have to deal with him on top of everything else.

* * *

><p><em>He should have known better as he watched two kids playing on the beach while their mother watched them from under an umbrella. <em>

_Artie always thought it was strange he relived all his memories in third person, like he was watching a movie. Artie continued to watch his five year old self playing with his eight year old step brother, Jacob. He knew exactly where he was, but he couldn't help looking at the Cristo Redentor statue on the mountain that overlooked the whole city. Not a cloud in the sky that was blue as the ocean. He could smell the food from the several carts pushed by vendor inviting people to buy. Several musicians played samba, the music his home country was known for._

_No doubt it, Artie thought as he took a deep breath and enjoyed the smell of sea mixed with the vendor's food. _

_He was home. Back in beautiful Rio De Janerio. _

_He returned his gaze to himself back on the beach and sat down on a bench._

_Artie laughed as he saw himself, fall, and cut himself on a seashell. The kid started to cry as he ran to his mother who smiled, like he did that a lot, and began brushing off the sand before putting a band aid on the cut. She kissed the band aid and told him to go back and play._

_"Hmpf" snorted a rough a voice. "MY mother would have really gave me something to cry about and then she would have smacked me for crying in the first place."_

_Artie rolled his eyes and groaned. He hoped this guy had found a new demigod to torment. He had first dreamed about him when he arrived at camp and he seemed enjoy in pointing out how weak Artie was. It had been month since he saw him last so Artie just assumed he had gotten bored. No such luck._

_Like usual he wore a red cape that dragged on the floor a few inches from his feet. He wore a dented and scratched bronze breast plate over a red Greek chiton. His bulging muscular legs were bare except bronze greaves on his shins and leather sandals. Like his the rest of him, his arms were huge as held a bronze shield with the Greek Lambda (Λ) painted on in red. Artie knew that it could cover him from the bottom his thigh all the way to his neck. In his other hand was worn wooden spear with a blood stained iron tip. On his hip was the warrior's sword. A double-edged single-handed sword made of common bronze. It was fairly short for a sword, only about thirty centimeters long, but it looked it had seen as much blood as the spear._

_He had rough beard flecked with spot of white along with his long hair. Not long enough to tie back but long enough to be blown back in wind. His face was tanned with eyes that showed he was no stranger to war and conflict. The only blemish was a scar over his right eye, like someone ran a blade down his face._

_Artie knew who this was, but anny sense of awe had long been washed away. This was the hero-king of Sparta. The seventeenth of the Agiad line and one of the sons of King Anaxandridas II of Sparta. A descendant of Heracles of himself, Leonidas._

_"Hello, Leon." greeted Artie_

_Leonidas frowned, clearly he didn't like his nickname. "Count yourself lucky, boy. I've killed for less."_

_"I'm sorry." he apologized with false sincerity. "Greetings, your majesty."_

_"I see you've grown more insolent since we last spoke." scowled Leonidas. "But still the same scared little child."_

_"And so it begins." Artie muttered to himself. "Look, I'm not in the mood and I'd like to avoid the lecture."_

_"That's exactly your problem!" bellowed the Hero-King. "You avoid every fight you come across."_

_Normally Artie would have gotten mad, but it was a broken record to him now. "You need to find a new song." he said. "And speaking of songs, can you keep it down? Its bad enough I can't listen to decent samba when I'm awake." Artie returned his attention to his five year old self splashing around in the ocean._

_Leonidas looked like he wanted nothing more to run Artie through with his spear. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH!"_

_He struck the ground with the butt of his spear and everything went black. No sunny beach or clear sky. No samba being played by street musicians or street vendors selling food. It was as if Leonidas had turned off Artie's dream like a father turning off a kid's television._

_Artie glared at him as Leonidas pointed a finger at him. "You need to learn you can't run from — Where do you think you're going?"_

_Artie had began walking away from the King of Sparta. "Nowhere does it say I have to take this. I might not be able make you leave, but it doesn't mean I can't."_

_"Get back here!" he struck the ground again with his spear. "This is exactly what I mean. You can't keep running."_

_"I can try." he said defiantly before taking off like a rocket._

_Since there was no terrain or landscape Artie couldn't tell if running in place or breaking the sound barrier. Still, that didn't stop him from pouring on the speed. He was sure left Leonidas far behind or he had simply left. He bent over to catch his breath, he didn't think he could become tired in a dream._

_"You can't run from me." said Leonidas as he appeared next to him._

_Artie gave him a look and took off again. He looked behind and saw Leonidas had disappeared, then he slammed into a bronze shield. Artie rubbed his face and saw the King of Sparta staring down at him._

_"Pathetic." he said in disgust. "Not even fit to polish my shield."_

_"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?" Artie demanded._

_"To stop disgracing the Spartan name!" He bellowed. "My men and I did not die just to have some scared little child disgrace what it means to be called a Spartan."_

_"In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm not a Spartan. I'm the descendant of Artemis not Hercules. I fight with a bow not a shield and spear."_

_"And yet you continue to piss on everything I and all the Spartans have died for." Leonidas pointed his spear at him. "I'll fight every Olympian with my bare hands before I let an insult like that go."_

_"I don't understand."_

_"While I couldn't care less what the children of the other gods call you or what you call yourself. It is the children of Lord Ares I am concerned about."_

_"The Spartan of the forest?" asked Artie. "That's the big insult? How is that even my fault?"_

_"Do you what I said at Thermopylae when the Persian army asked my men and I to lay down our weapons?" Leonidas demanded as he removed his spear from Artie's throat. "Molōn labe! I assume you know what that means boy."_

_"Come and take them." Artie translated grateful Leonidas had removed his spear._

_"And when a Thespian told Dienekes, the bravest Spartan of all my men, that Xerxes archers were so numerous that their arrows would block out the sun. Do you know what he said?"_

_"What does this have to do with me? Why are you telling me this?"_

_Leonidas ignored the questions, "Good! Then we will fight in the shade." Leonidas fixed him with a cold stare. "Never retreat. Never surrender. That is Spartan law. And by that law, I lived, I fought, and died. It's time you learned to accept that and do the same."_

_With that Leonidas turn and walked away. As he did Artie called out to him, "Why should I?"_

_Leonidas turn with a wicked grin on his face, "Because it's the only way you're ever going to get free of me. Farewell for now, child of Artemis."_

_As soon as he disappeared Artie's dream resumed. Everything faded back into sunny sky and beach. The music resumed where it been cut off and Artie saw his five year old self splashing in the ocean with his brother. _

_For some reason, the dream had lost it's allure._


	8. Percy And Artie Fall To Thier Deaths

Artie couldn't tell if he was dreaming or not, but he felt something licking his wrist.

He was about to open his eyes when a twig snapped loudly behind him and hand landed on his shoulder. Without thinking, he grabbed the hand and flipped his would be assailant onto the floor in front of him. He raised his other hand above his head as his nails grew into razor points.

Normally this only happened when Artie had , what he liked to call, an episode. When he got so angry or terrified the animal part of his brain, the part that was nothing but pure instinct, kicked in which so far had only happened twice in his life. Once when the manticore backed him against a wall and once at camp where he nearly killed Clarisse and two members of the Ares cabin. It wasn't like had super powers or anything, his nails only grew into about an inch and half long at most and they could chip and break like normal fingernails. Over the years he had learned to control it to a degree, only able to retract them once they grew. He didn't dare to try to intentionally summon them and currently they only grew as a reflex, like now.

Artie froze when he saw the would be assailant was Percy with a scared look on his face. Artie instantly let him up, put both his hands behind his back, and backed up against a tree.

"_Pelo amor de Deus!" _he cried in Portuguese. "Percy, I'm so sorry."

Percy got up cautiously,"What was that?"

"A reflex." answered a voice.

Artie and Percy turned to see Annabeth holding a pink poodle,"I'm sorry, Percy. I forgot to tell you."

"Tell me what?" he asked as he rubbed his wrist.

"Never, ever, sneak up on me. Unless you want a broken finger or dislocated shoulder." Artie warned him.

Annabeth nodded, "His time before camp left him a little . . . jumpy."

"Any more jumpy and I'd get to the Underworld the hard way." Percy remarked. "What's the deal with those claws anyway?"

"Claws?" asked Annabeth.

Artie shrugged and showed his hands. A little dirty maybe, but clearly normal hands. No claws in sight. If anything they looked short, like Artie had cut them too soon.

Percy scratched his head, " I could have sworn that I saw —"

"Whats with the poodle?" Artie cut in trying to change the subject.

Annabeth shrugged as the poodle hopped down from her arms and sniffed Artie. "He was sleeping in your lap before Percy woke you up. I guess he found us in the middle of the night."

Artie nodded. This kind of thing tended to happen a lot whenever he slept out in the open. He was grateful it was just a runaway dog and not something bigger. One time he woke up in a cave with a black jaguar and her cubs as room mates. Another time he woken up to find he was sharing a clearing with a wolf pack. They never seemed to mind him. In fact they seemed to adopt him, often feeding him like one their young.

Artie picked up the poodle and checked for tags, he didn't seem to mind. Clearly this dog had been on the street for a while, Artie judged by the smell and dirt in his fur. He found a mud splattered id tag with the dog's name and his family's address.

"Well, this little guy's name is Gladiola." said Artie.

Gladiola yipped as if to confirm.

"It's a he?" asked Percy. "He's a pink poodle."

Gladiola growled at him which Artie translated. "That's why he ran away. His family been treating him like an accessory."

Annabeth scratched behind his ears, "I'd love to help, but we have our own problems. We have to figure out a way west."

Tobias screeched as he landed on Artie's shoulder which terrified Gladiola. Artie couldn't blame him. To Tobias, Gladiola was the size of a skinny rabbit which Tobias loved to eat. He handed the dog to Annabeth and took the poster Tobias was holding in his beak.

It was a reward poster for the safe return of a missing pink poodle named Gladiola. The reward was posted under a picture of the poodle, two-hundred dollars cash, and underneath was a nearby address. Tobias cawed gently and motioned downhill to the train tracks Artie hadn't noticed last night.

"I think we found our way west." smiled Artie.

* * *

><p>Using the reward money from returning Gladiola, they bought AM track train tickets. Unfortunately, they could only afford three tickets as far as Denver which meant they couldn't get berths in the sleeper cars. Percy and Annabeth took turns pacing up and down the length of the car while Artie spent all his time intently reading a book he bought with the last of his money which annoyed Annabeth for the first two days.<p>

Percy saw her point. They didn't have much money to spare and yet Artie went ahead and bought_ The Gates of Fire _by _Steven Pressfield. _Artie had assured them it was important but he wouldn't explain why. All he said he needed to understand the battle better, more about the Spartans specifically, than what everyone already knew. Percy got the feeling it had to do something with his dreams. Whenever Artie fell asleep he would mutter and curse angrily, telling someone to leave him alone. After what happened in the woods, Percy didn't dare shake him awake. Annabeth seemed to share his concern, though she didn't ask, and asked Artie to give her his knives.

"And I thought my dreams were bad?" Percy observed.

"What do you mean?" asked Annabeth.

They spent the next few hours talking. Percy explained about his two dreams about the pit and voice asking him to help him rise from the Underworld. Annabeth agreed the quest was rather strange. The Furies seemed to be looking for something rather than a person. Percy was sure it was Hades since no one else could offer his mother in trade, but Percy's description seemed off to Annabeth. Hades always appeared on a black throne and he never laughed apparently.

Eventually the subject changed to Annabeth's past. She told him how she appeared on her father's doorstep and her father though of her as an inconvenience. How her father eventually married a mortal wife and they resented her every time something monster related happened. She explained how she eventually ran away at seven years old and how her mother guided towards help, two friends who took care of her for a short while.

The train stopped in downtown St. Louis. An intercom announced they would have a three hour layover before heading to Denver. The intercom jerked Artie awake which meant he reached for his knife but paused when he didn't find it on his belt. Annabeth handed them back to him and explained about the three hour layover.

Artie sheathed his knives and stuffed his book in his satchel. "What do you guys wanna do for three hours? Cause I need to get off this train, for a while at least. "

Annabeth looked at the St. Louis Arch in the distance, "Come on, we're going sightseeing."

Since it was late in the day, the lines were fairly short. Annabeth went on and on about how the arch was built and other stuff like that as they walked around the underground museum. Artie and Percy only half heard her. Percy just wasn't that much into Architecture like Annabeth while Artie thought about what he read in _The Gates Of Fire_ and how brutal it life was back then.

He knew not to take the book to seriously. In his haste, he failed to see it was historical fiction, meaning the author would and could take liberties with the material. Still he learned a lot about the training the Spartans would often did. Compared to what he had gone through, it made his four years of cat mouse with the manticore look like exactly that, a game of cat and mouse.

The Spartans would form up in ranks, the shield of each pressed into the hollow of the back of the one in front of him, with the leading soldier's shield mashed by their combined weight and pressure against a tree. They would push and they would strain. The soles of their bare feet would churn the dirt, heaving and straining until a rut had been excavated ankle-deep, while they crushed each other's guts grinding into that immovable tree. When the one in front could stand no more, he would assume the position of the rear and the second one would move up. If they could not move the tree, it would go into an all-night shield drill. Only dawn signaled a reprieve for them to eat meager rations and then they would fall in for another full day of training without a minute's sleep.

Artie would have continued thinking about but Percy asked him, "You smell anything?"

Artie sniffed the air and frowned. "Underground. The air underground always smells like monsters. We could be surrounded and I wouldn't be able to tell."

"Great." Percy rolled his eyes. "That makes me feel better."

Annabeth then steered and stuffed them into the elevator that would take them to the top of the arch. The confined space seemed to unnerve Percy as the elevator went up in a curve. Artie was uneasy as well but it wasn't the confined space. He remembered the smell from his time in the wild, the unmistakable scent of reptiles. Artie thought it was the fat lady with the chihuahua, but he dismissed the thought as the underground air playing with his nose.

They eventually got out of the elevator and enjoyed the view of St. Louis from the six-hundred foot angle. They would have stayed longer, but the park ranger said the observation deck would be closing soon. Percy steered Annabeth and Artie into the elevator and found there wasn't any room for him. They offered to get off and go together, but Percy declined.

"It's okay." he assured. "I'll see you guys at the bottom."

The doors closed and the elevator began its descend. A minute or two passed when the elevator stopped and shook. A voice came over the intercom saying it was a slight mechanical glitch. Artie and Annabeth looked at each other and they knew Percy was in trouble. Artie boosted Annabeth and she open the maintenance hatch in the roof. She hauled Artie up and they looked they had several hundred feet to climb to reach observation deck again.

Artie sighed and began climbing. "I'm starting to think someone doesn't particularly like Percy. You coming?"

Annabeth jumped and grabbed the cable, but it was to slick and she began to slid down. She struggled to climb faster, but she couldn't seem to grip the cable tight enough. Artie just hung there and watched trying figure out the problem. Annabeth kept trying until she was breathing hard.

"How are you doing that?" she asked desperately.

"I don't know." he answered. Then he looked up. "Look I'll climb up and see what the problem is. You take the elevator down. Protect the mortals. If there is a monster up there, I wouldn't be surprised if another is waiting in the lobby in case the other messes up."

As Artie climbed, he saw why he could climb the cable while Annabeth couldn't. When he jumped onto the cable, his claws instinctively grew and dug into the cable. Like a panther climbing a tree or a house cat fighting with another cat, his claws were proving useful for continued to climb as the wall curved and curved until it became a floor. He eventually made it to the observation deck and he didn't like what he heard behind the door. He wedged his claws between the elevator and pulled them apart.

If he didn't like what he had heard, he really didn't like what he saw. Percy was fighting a giant animal that had the body of a lion with a serpent for a tail. Percy rolled and dodged as it breathed fire, often scorching or blowing holes in the arch. The woman, who Artie noticed smelled of reptiles and now saw she had matching reptile skin and eyes, was laughing at Percy as he fought to stay alive.

"Be honored, Percy Jackson." she cackled. "Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood. For I am the the mother of all monsters, Echinda."

This is not good, Artie thought. The mother of monsters was just boasting. This lady had sired lots of famous monsters, some of which were still around. She was mother to Typhon, Cerebus, and Scylla just to name a few, but right now he was concerned more about the monster currently in front of him, the Chimera.

He threw the doors wide open and rolled in. As he rolled, he drew an arrow, opened his bow, and fired right into the Chimera's maw. Just before arrow connected, the Chimera blew a ball of fire at him, completely reducing it to ash. Artie dived to the side to avoided being roasted like a chicken. When he stood he now saw he was standing next to Percy.

"I can't leave you alone for two minutes?" he joked grimly as he aimed another arrow at the Chimera.

Echinda regarded the new demigod with a bow, "The alleged son of the moon. So glad you could join us, Artemis."

"What?" asked Percy.

Artie aimed an arrow at Echinda, "Later." he promised. "If we live."

Percy charged the Chimera and slashed at his neck. Riptide bounced of his collar as the serpent tail whipped around and sank his teeth in Percy's calf. Artie saw Echinda was distracted and fired. Echinda didn't even flinch as the Chimera snatched arrow mid air and snapped like it toothpick between his teeth. Percy took a step and tried to jab it in the mouth before the serpent tail wrapped around his ankle and pulled him off balance which sent Riptide threw a hole in the arch into the Mississippi river down below.

"They sure don't make heroes like they used to, eh son?" Echinda chuckled.

Percy managed to get to his feet next to Artie. Together they stepped back until their backs were against the doors of the elevator and giant hole on either side of the observation deck. Percy looked down the hole to his right, where Riptide had fallen through, and gulped at the Mississippi river glittering far far below.

"If you are the son of Poseidon." Echinda hissed. "You wouldn't fear the water. Jump and retrieve your sword, Percy Jackson. Prove your bloodline."

That gave Artie an idea. "Percy, if this doesn't work. I'm sorry."

Percy still was gaping at the river, "Sorry about whAaaaggghhh . . ."

Percy's scream was quickly lost as he dropped six-hundred and thirty feet to the Mississippi river. Echinda had reminded Artie that Percy was the son of Poseidon which meant, in theory at least, he could survive the fall so long he landed in water. Combined with the fact Poseidon needed Percy to clear his name, Artie was fairly sure Percy had a decent chance of living to see LA. He wished the same could be said for him.

Echinda seemed momentarily shocked by the fact that the son of Artemis had just sent the son of Poseidon screaming to his death. Artie used the the opportunity to draw an arrow and fire. Like before at Medusa's lair, Artie made sure to close his eyes before the solar arrow exploded, blinding Echinda and the Chimera. He quickly turned and pried open the the elevator, his claws had sprouted instinctively as he jammed them in the crease. Echinda and her son seemed to be recovering as the door slammed closed behind him.

Artie heard the Chimera roar in anger then the door exploded. Artie jumped in surprise as he stared through the smoking hole in the elevator door.

Not wanting to press his luck, Artie turned and slid down the arch.


	9. A God Buys Them Cheeseburgers

Artie looked up from his book. They were still glaring at him. "I said I was sorry."

"You pushed me off the arch." Percy growled.

"What were you thinking!" demanded Annabeth. "Who's side are you on?"

Artie couldn't blame them. If his plan was one iota less effective, he would be debating the matter with Percy in the Underworld because Annabeth would have killed him. He explained his reasons, but that just seemed to upset them more. They eventually agreed to drop the subject, though Artie was sure Percy was still pretty steamed about it.

Honestly, Artie thought Percy had it easier. He had gotten a quick escape to the bottom of the arch while he slid down the arch. The problem was, he hadn't realized how bad of idea it was until the floor he was sliding on arced down at a ninety degree angle, and by then it was too late. His momentum slammed him into the wall so hard he thought there was an Artie shaped dent on the outside of the arch. Then he started falling a second later.

Luckily most demigods have faster reflexes than most mortals and combined with massive amounts of adrenaline, he had the presence of mind to draw his knives and stab the wall. While it didn't stop his fall outright, it did slow it enough for him to avoid breaking his legs when he landed on the elevator that was still a hundred feet from the bottom. He yanked his knives from the wall and laid there to admire the several hundred foot gash he left on a national monument.

He joined Annabeth outside as police, firemen, and news teams stormed in like an invading army. They managed to slip out without much effort and met Percy who was fighting through a crowd. Annabeth looked relieved to see Percy was alive then her expression changed when Percy decked Artie, who could have easily dodged it but he knew he deserved it. Percy would have followed up with more but they all agreed they needed to leave when they heard a reporter mention Percy. On their way to the train station, Percy explained how Artie had pushed him through a hole in the arch into a six-hundred foot free fall.

They were so mad with him they hadn't said a word to him until Percy asked, "What did Echidna call you? Back at the arch?"

"You're talking to me now?" Artie asked.

"Don't make me change my mind." he said. "She called you by a god's name."

Annabeth sat forward, "Which god?"

"Artemis." Artie answered. "She called me Artemis. So did Medusa if i remember."

Annabeth looked confused. "But you're not - - - "

"Of course not." Artie cut in. "I'm no god.

"But then why?" asked Percy.

"Its my name." he explained. "My full name is Artemis Raposo Gallezi."

"So you and your mother share the same." concluded Annabeth.

"Not exactly." Artie struggled to find the right words to explain. "Artemis is usually a girl's name since she is the patron goddess of young girls, maidens, but it can be used for boys too. The thing is for men, it's more of a title than a name."

"Which is why you prefer for everyone to call you Artie." Percy put together.

Artie nodded. It was true enough. He didn't feel like telling them it was his stepmother's pet name for him and the real reason he preferred Artie over Artemis. "I don't think I've earned the right. Not yet anyway."

_And you never will if you don't learn to fight your battles_, Leonidas had said in his last dream. _There's a reason we prayed to her along with Athena and Ares before starting a new military campaign._

_Enjoy yourself while you can_, he warned him, _Because whether I survive this quest or not, I'll be seeing you real soon._

_That's more like it_, he laughed as he faded away, _I'll look forward to it._

_What's with this guy?_, he thought to himself. _One second he's yelling at me and the next he's laughing._

"And the claws?" asked Percy, jerking Artie out of his memory.

"What claws?" said Artie feigning ignorance. He had hoped Percy had forgotten them.

"Before we got on the train, when you flipped me." He reminded.

"I said I was sorry about that. I can't control my reflexes. That's why they're called reflexes."

"No I mean when you pulled your hand back." Percy explained. "I thought you were going to punch me, then I saw your nails grow."

"What?" asked Annabeth.

"Nothing." Artie quickly answered. "Percy must have hit his head or maybe a trick of the light."

"Twice?" Percy asked. "I didn't think it was important when we fought Echidna, but I think I saw your nails shrink when you opened the elevator door."

"The keyword being 'think'. You think you saw me with claws." Artie repeated.

"You're being awfully defensive." Annabeth remarked.

"Defensive? I'm not defensive." he declared rather defensively.

"Yes you are." said Percy.

"NO I'M NOT!" he shouted rather loudly. "For the last time I don't have claws."

Annabeth pointed to Artie's hands, "Then what are those?"

Artie looked down and cursed,"_Maldição! Merda! Toda vez que maldita_ . . . "

Artie would have continued swearing in rapid Portuguese if Percy hadn't stopped him, "Whoa buddy calm down." Artie stopped mid word.

"Good now in English." said Annabeth.

Artie retracted his claws, "Well now you know. Happy?"

"How long have you been able to do that?" Annabeth asked.

Artie looked away."A little over two years now. Ever since the Everglades."

"Everglades?" Percy asked. "Like the Florida Everglades?"

"Yeah." Artie sighed. "Can we just drop it for now?"

Percy was about to ask more questions when Annabeth stopped him. She shook her head and Percy got the message. He'll tell us when he's ready, don't push him. They rode on in silence.

Artie gazed out the window as he remembered the night he met his mother two years ago. The first child of Artemis part, he had gotten over really fast. What he couldn't let go was the rest.

He didn't think she care about him, otherwise his stepmother and brother would still be alive. Then there was the four years of a life and death game of cat and mouse. Spending every waking moment looking over his shoulder as he, the way Luke put it, learned to live off the land, to eat things that would make even a satyr puke. What kind of mother, god or otherwise, let a little kid fend for himself as he searched for a safe place to call home without so much as a clue?

She had tried to explain. Gods are forbidden from directly interfering with the lives of their children and all that. He didn't buy it. For one thing, if she was clever enough to have a child without breaking her vow then she could have found a way to help him. She did her best to make him see why she did what she did, it was clear she wasn't used to explaining herself or dealing with children for that matter which he found weird. Then again the Hunters only looked young, they could be hundreds of years old for all he knew.

_I sent you Tobias_, she told him as if this was a good excuse,_ he watched over and helped you where I couldn't. Thanks to him you wouldn't have survived long enough to complain. That ordeal is over now._

That sent him over the edge, _Nothing is over! Nothing! You just don't turn it off! Thanks to you I don't feel safe anywhere. Not even at camp, the only place in the world where it IS safe for me._

A voice spoke in the back of his head. A voice he really didn't want to hear in his current mood. _She wanted to create a great hero, boy._

_Leonidas, you have two seconds to get out of head_, he warned,_ before I make the Nemian lion look like a house cat._

The voice fell silent as they pulled into Denver. Artie stayed silent as they walked into a do-it-yourself carwash. Annabeth had said she wanted to tell Chiron about Percy's talk with the river spirit when Artie pushed him off the arch in St. Louis. Annabeth explained about Iris messaging and how they needed to make a rainbow.

"Iris specializes in delivering messages for the gods." she said. "But she'll do the same for demigods, if you know how to ask."

Unfortunately when they asked for Chiron at half blood hill they got Luke. Luke explained how the campers were fighting amongst themselves, each taking sides with either Poseidon or Zeus. Artie wanted to hear the rest when some jerk with powerful sound system in his car, pulled into the space next to them. He gave the spray gun to Percy and went with Annabeth to get the guy to turn down the noise a little, hopefully he could still hear enough to get the message.

After a few minutes of yelling over the music, he agreed to lower the volume. When they returned, they saw Percy had a very serious look on his face and Annabeth asked, "What happened Percy? What did Luke say?"

"Not much." he said, though Artie was sure he was holding something back. "Come one let's find some dinner."

A few minutes later they were sitting in a booth of roadside diner. They all watched families laugh and talk as they ate burgers, fries, and drained their malts and sodas. Artie would never admit it to anyone, but he couldn't help being a little jealous of them. Artie's mind wondered to thoughts of taking his brother and mother when they reached the Underworld. He quickly put an end to that train of thought, it would only depress him more and it wouldn't accomplish anything good. Plus, He had read enough myths and stories to know that kind of thing never ended well for anyone.

A waitress came over to their booth,"Well?"

Percy said, "We, um, like to order dinner."

"You kids have money to pay for it?"

Artie had offered a more traditional way of finding dinner, but Percy and Annabeth squashed it just like that time at Medusa's lair. Annabeth had looked tempted, Artie guess she was a day or two from passing out, while Percy thought of a sob story for the waitress when a motorcycle pulled up, shaking the whole building to it's core. Artie saw it was a large black Harley Davidson chopper motorcycle with a flame pattern paint job. He cringed when he saw the leather seat was made from human skin. And the with shotgun holsters riveted to the motorcycles sides just seemed like overkill to him. Then he saw the biker.

He was huge,but not in the couch potato way. This guy looked as if was made of pure muscle and attitude. He wore black jeans, combat boots, a long black leather duster, and blood red muscle shirt. Like Artie his eyes were hidden behind red tinted wraparound sunglasses. His scarred cheeks and oiled crew cut made him look handsome,but in the prince charming sort of way, more like Conan the barbarian and Artie was sure this guy would have made even Conan run for his mother. He walked in and gust of hot,dry wind blew all over the place just as everyone rose to their feet. The biker waved his hand and they returned to their food.

"You kids of have money to pay for it?" asked the waitress again.

"It's on me." said the biker as he slid into the booth, crowding Annabeth against the window. He looked at the waitress. "You still here?"

The waitress quickly turned and walked to the kitchen as the biker turned his attention to Percy. Suddenly Artie was annoyed at being ignored. He shook his head at the thought. He wasn't an attention hog, something was affecting his mood, making him angry and bitter. Then he noticed the biker's scent. It wasn't as if he smelled bad, just strange. He wondered why it smelt so familiar, then it hit him. It was a mix of blood, metal, and sweat. Just like Clarisse which meant either this biker was a son of Ares or . . .

Oh boy, Artie thought to himself. This can't be good.

"So you're ol' seaweed's kid huh?" asked the biker.

"What's it to you?" Percy countered.

Annabeth flashed Percy a warning. "Percy this is - - -"

The biker raised a hand."S'Okay. I don't mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who's boss. Do you know who I am little cousin?"

"You're Clarisse's dad." Percy realized."Ares, god of war."

Ares took off his glasses, revealing his eyes to be miniature nuclear explosions."That right punk. I heard you broke Clarisse's spear."

"She was asking for it."

"Probably. That's cool. I don't fight my kid's fights, you know? I heard you were in town. I got a proposition for you."


	10. Artie Gets A Cat

"Remind me why we're doing this again?" Percy asked rhetorically as the walked down Delancy Street.

"Because you don't ignore the gods." Annabeth answered. "Unless you want some serious bad luck."

"Then why does that saying keep coming to mind?" Artie wondered. "The one about how no good deed goes unpunished."

Annabeth chose to ignore that as they arrived to the abandoned water park which had been uncreative named WATERLAND. Clearly the park had been abandoned for some time since now the sign read WAT R A D. The main gate had been padlocked and topped with barbed wire to prevent people from enjoying the rusted dry water slide and pools or reading the sun faded advertisements that either hung or littered the floor and pools.

"If this where Ares brings his girlfriend." Percy said. "I'd hate to see what she looks like."

Percy noticed Artie take a step to the side. "What?" he demanded.

"You might want to be more respectful." Annabeth suggested.

"Why?" he asked. "I thought you hated Ares."

"He's still a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental."

"You do not want to insult her looks." Artie added.

"Who is she? Echidna?"

"No, Aphrodite. Goddess of love and beauty." Artie answered.

"I thought she was married." Percy frowned. "Hephaestus."

"So is your dad." Artie reminded him. "And yet your not immortal."

"Oh." Percy blushed. "So how do we get in?"

Artie walked to the fence and began climbing then hopped down with a frown. "Smell something?" asked Percy.

Artie shook his head. "_Maia_." he said to activate the flying shoes.

Carefully he flew over the fence. Once he cleared the top, he tried to turn but ended up doing a full 360* turn. He unsteadily flew forward as he wobbled to keep his balance. Again he tried turning, this time he only turned halfway to the left as he landed softly. Tobias cawed from the decaying WATERLAND sign, Percy didn't think birds could laugh but Tobias seemed to be amused at what he saw.

Artie ignored him, "I'll look around while you guys climb. Let's meet up at the Tunnel of Love."

Annabeth and Percy climbed the fence the old fashioned way, holding down the barbed wire for each other as they cleared the top. Once they reached the bottom, they began searching for Ares's shield. Instead, they found a souvenir shop that had been left open. Percy saw that merchandise still lined the shelf. Thing like snow globes, postcards,pencil, and a few racks of - - -

"Clothes!" cried Annabeth. "Fresh clothes."

"Yeah." Percy agreed. "But you can't just - - - "

"Watch me." she responded as she snatched an entire row and dashed to the changing rooms.

A few minutes she came out in Waterland shorts, a Waterland T-shirt, and commemorative Waterland surf shoes. She also had a Waterland backpack which obviously was stuffed with lots of other Waterland merchandise. Tobias seemed to follow Annabeth's lead and snatched a Waterland tank top before taking off to give it to Artie. Percy then followed suit and before long, him and Annabeth looked like walking advertisement for the abandoned park. They continued to the Tunnel of Love and found Artie at the edge of the pool, already wearing his Waterland tank top with Tobias perched on a post.

They walked up to him. "Found it?" Percy asked.

Artie pointed to the far end of the empty pool. "Right over there. Just sitting there."

Annabeth just frowned, "That's it?"

Artie nodded uneasy. "Yeah. I don't like it either. Seems way too easy."

Percy saw what they meant. The shield was sitting in a white and pick two seater paddle boat with a canopy on top. His gaze went to the cupid statues all around the perimeter of the pool. They seemed surprisingly clean and polished for statues that hadn't been touched for a long time. This was too easy.

Percy turned to Artie, "Smell any monsters?"

Artie sniffed the air, "Nothing."

"Nothing-like, in the arch and you didn't smell Echidna nothing, or really nothing?"

"I told you about the underground air." defended Artie. "And I also did warn you guys about Medusa's lair."

"He's got us there." admitted Annabeth.

"Okay, I'm sorry about that." Percy took a deep breath. "I'm going down there. Annabeth come with me, Artie can cover us with his bow."

Annabeth's cheeks went bright red. "Are you kidding?"

"Whats the problem now?" Percy demanded.

"Yeah," agreed Artie. "We're burning daylight. And last time I checked, either of you can't see in the dark."

Annabeth shifted, "Me, go with you into the . . . Thrill Ride of Love? How embarrassing is that? What if someone saw me?"

Artie was about to go down himself when Tobias landed on his shoulder and half cawed half chirped in his ear. Artie nodded as he understood. "Looks like none of us are going down there."

They both looked at him as he explained. "Tobias sees a thin wire attached to the shield. My guess is it's a trip wire. Once it's moved, a trap will spring. What kind though, I don't know."

Annabeth squinted at the shield. "I don't see anything."

Tobias squawked indignantly. Artie winced before he translated. "Hawks are known for thier visual acuity Annabeth. A near blind hawk can still see five times better than the average human."

"Okay. So what's the plan?" asked Percy.

"Hard to think of one." said Annabeth. "When we don't know what kind of trap."

Artie opened his bow. "One way to find out." he said as he drew an arrow and fired.

The blunt tipped arrow raced toward and bounced of the shield with clear bong, sending it off the boat and onto the pool. Instantly the silent night air was filled with the sound of grinding and ticking of gears, almost if the pool was becoming a machine. The cupid statue drew their bows into firing positions and fired at each other. Silk like cords trailed behind the arrows as they arced over the pool. The second they anchored smaller threads began weaving between them, forming a giant net over the pool. The head of the cupid statue opened to reveal video cameras and spotlights that were trained on the pool, no doubt to record whoever sprung the trap.

A loudspeaker boomed, "Live to Olympus in one minute . . . Fifty-nine seconds . . . fifty-eight . . . "

"Whoa." said Percy.

"You can say that again." agreed Artie.

"Whoa." Percy repeated with a smile.

Something about the statues caught Annabeth's attention. "There a Greek letter here . . . an Eta. Which means . . Hephaestus made this . . . to catch his wife with Ares and broadcast to Olympus to make them look like fools."

"It looks like his show is gonna be short of a cast." said Artie.

"We need to have a little talk with Ares." said Percy. "Once we get that shield. Any ideas Annabeth?"

Annabeth watched at million of metallic spiders poured into the pool. She gulped and took a step back. "Give me a minute will you?"

* * *

><p>An hour later they were in the diner parking lot. Ares was sitting on his motorcycle, waiting for them. "Well, well." he said. "You didn't yourself killed."<p>

"You knew it was a trap." said Percy.

Ares smiled wickedly, "Bet that cripple was surprised a couple of mortals sprung his trap without anything to show for it. Too bad, I was curious to see how you looked on TV."

Percy shoved the shield at the god of war, "You're a jerk."

Ares just shrugged as turned the shield into a vest and pointed to red eighteen wheeled truck parked across from the diner. "That'll take you straight to LA with one stop in Vegas."

"KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL : HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING LIVE WILD ANIMALS." Artie read aloud.

"You're kidding." said Percy.

Ares snapped his fingers and the back door unlatched, "Free ride west, punk. No complaining. And here's a little something for doing the job."

He tossed Percy a blue backpack. He looked inside a saw twenty dollars in cash, a few drachma, and bag of Oreos. "I don't want you're lousy - - -"

Artie snatched the bag as Annabeth flashed Percy a warning, "Thanks Lord Ares."

"You still own me one more thing." Percy reminded. "You promised me information about my mother."

Ares kick started his bike, "She not dead. She's being kept hostage. Old war trick. You take someone to control someone else."

"No one's controlling me."

Ares laughed. "Oh yeah? See ya around kid."

"You're pretty smug Lord Ares for someone who runs from cupid statues."

Ares's eyes glowed behind his glasses, "We'll meet again, Percy Jackson. Next time you're in a fight, watch your back." With that, he raced down Delancy street and disappeared.

"If we're taking Ares's ride." said Artie. "We'd better hurry. I think the guys driving, are paying thier check."

Without much choice, they ran to the truck and climbed in. Inside were several empty cages and sacks of animal feed and gallons of water. Only three cages were occupied. An malnourished albino lion, a zebra with a gum caked mane, and an antelope like animal with a balloon tied to its horn that read OVER THE HILL. Artie immediately saw that whomever was taking care, which was stretching it, of the animals, hadn't bothered to feed them properly. The lion had been tossed a small bag of turnips while the zebra and antelope had been given each a box of hamburger meat. Artie's claws began to grow, digging into a feed sack, and it wasn't because he was scared of the lion.

Artie asked calmly, "Annabeth, has the meaning of 'humane' changed recently?"

Annabeth looked confused by the question, Um, I don't think so."

"Didn't think so." he said and began walking to the door. "Be right back."

Luckily for the drivers, the engine roared to life and the trailer began to shake, forcing Artie to either sit down or fall down. He cursed as he took the second option and fell against the lion cage. The lion sniffed and licked Artie's head through the bars of his cage.

Annabeth looked concerned. "Um, I'd get away from him. You seem to look better than those turnips."

Artie wasn't scared in the slightest as he stuck his hand in the cage and began scratching behind the lions ears. Truth be told, Artie was a cat person or rather cats were Artie people. Like satyrs, Artie could communicate with animals, not vocally but mentally. He had learned the hard way he was limited to non-reptilian predators, meaning animals that hunted for thier food that weren't related to crocodiles or snakes. It also helped if they animal was intelligent, like wolves or foxes, since animals don't use words per se.

Even now the lion was saying something like, _Wrong food. No water. Help master._

Artie continued scratching as he told Annabeth and Percy to refill the water bowls and switch the food between the cages. The lion quickly ate and drank while Artie drew a knife and began working on the lock, ignoring Percy and Annabeth calling him crazy.

_I'll let you out if promise not to eat my . . . pride_, he told the lion, knowing animals didn't have friends. Pride roughly translated into family or pack for lions.

_No eat man-cubs_, promised the lion, _man-cubs part of master's pride_.

After a few minutes, the lock opened and Artie went to work on the other cages. Normally he would have left them in the cages for their own safety, but he had the lion promise to not eat them, it also didn't seem fair to leave in cages while the lion was free. While he worked, the lion walked to Percy and Annabeth which made them considered become vegetarians.

"Artie?" yelped Annabeth.

"A little busy here." he said. "Problem?"

"Mufasa here is looking at us funny." Percy squeaked.

Artie stopped and laughed as the lion licked their face and laid down next to them. "Figures, you must be dog people."

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN**_ - _It seems that according to my reviews, I made Artie a little too powerful. Well you guys got me there so I've been making a little more human. As for how he beat Luke, the greatest sword fighter in 100 years, I'm gonna let my next chapter explain that along with how he can play the guitar so well and why exactly he is a better archer than the Apollo campers._

_Feel free to read and review, and while I know I can't do anything but ask nicely, please be civil about it._


	11. Not Created Equal

If you were to open the back trailer of this particular truck belonging to KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL, you would find one strange site. In one corner Percy and Annabeth laid on feed sack with the zebra and antelope next to them, happy to be out of the cages. Artie and the lion, dubbed Mufasa by Percy, were in the other corner. Understandably Mufasa made the other mammals, including Percy and Annabeth, very nervous. Artie had that known that feeling before so he just took his new friend and sat in the corner opposite his friends. Like an over grown house cat, Mufasa laid over Artie legs and purred as his master scratched behind his ears. Combined with the heat of the trailer and the three-hundred pound man eating radiator, it didn't take much time for Artie to fall asleep. As he did, he could hear Annabeth telling Percy the whole story about Thalia's pine and how she got to Camp Half Blood, a story he had to pester her for a week until she finally told him since Luke had refused to even speak about it.

Artie stood in the corner of his old room that he and his step brother had shared in Rio. Artie watched as his brother, Jacob, taught his seven year old self scales on an old worn guitar. He laughed to himself as the seven year old struggled, finding hard to moves his hands simultaneously of each other. He remembered at the time how jealous of how easily music came to Jacob. Without a single lesson, it had taken Jacob roughly a month to play even the most complicated melodies in all of Samba while, even now, it took him weeks of practice to learn a single song. Now that he knew that the Greek gods were real, he often wondered if Jacob had also been a demigod. A son of Apollo possibly he thought, which would have made them cousins rather than brothers. Artie glanced at the calender and saw, in the dream, it was November twenty-first. Exactly one month before IT came and took everything from him.

_One hell of a birthday present_, he thought to himself bitterly.

"That's what I thought when I first started the agoge." laughed a rough voice next to him.

Artie growled under his breath as he turned to see Leonidas. "Would it kill you to find someone else to annoy?"

Leonidas seemed to actually consider it. "I doubt it. Seeing as I'm already dead."

Artie blinked. Here he thought this guy didn't have a sense of humor. "I assume you're here to tell me to get over losing my family and man up or something like that."

"No." Leonidas sat on a chair in the corner. "Well not exactly."

Artie blinked again. This couldn't be the same Leonidas that mentally irritated him and put down for months since he arrived at Camp Half Blood. Maybe this really was a dream and this was the version of Leonidas he preferred, more down to earth and unsure not relentlessly demanding and demeaning.

"Don't get any bright ideas boy." he snapped. "I'm simply trying a new approach. Whether it works or not, you have Socrates to thank for it."

"One of the most famous sons of Athena?" asked Artie. "The teacher of Plato and Aristotle? That Socrates?"

"The very same." Leonidas nodded. "He said something about sending a Spartan to do an Athenian's job."

"So why are you here now?" he asked.

"Same as before boy." The Hero-King answered. "You have to learn to actually fight your battles."

"And suddenly we're back to square one." Artie grumbled. "Look I've been thinking about what you said. How my mother left me to fend for myself because she wanted to create a great hero."

"And?" Leonidas sat forward with interest. "Enlighten me. What conclusion have you come to?"

"While I don't agree how she went about it." he admitted. "She succeeded. Since I arrived at camp. I've become a better fighter than Luke. While the Apollo campers are better musicians than me, I'm a the better archer, second only to Chiron."

Leonidas considered what he said for a moment before bellowing in mad laughter. It went on for several minutes all the while Artie just stood there dumbfounded. Leonidas eventually straightened and fought to stop himself from giggling like school girl. Now Artie was sure this was a dream. The Leonidas he had come to know never laughed, at least not without making sure it was at his expense.

He wiped a tear from his eye, "I needed that. You'd be surprised how little you laugh in Elysium."

"Care to explain what's so funny? I meant what I said, its true."

Leonidas chuckled, "No you think its true, that's what makes it funny. Here let us explore your claims, O great warrior of the moon."

Leonidas waved his hand and Artie's room dissolved and was replaced with the sword fighting arena of Camp Half Blood. Artie recognized it instantly. This was when he fought Luke in front of the entire Hermes cabin and won. Though the way Leonidas talked about it, he had the feeling he was missing something crucial and it was about to be thrown back in his face.

Currently the scene was paused like a movie. "We'll start with you're first claim. You said you defeated this son of Hermes, Luke I think you said his name was." Then he struck the ground with the butt of his spear and the fight resumed.

Artie watched himself as he,with almost no effort, evaded every strike as if he had all the time in the world,which he did. No one could touch him if he didn't allow it. He continued watching as his dream-self, time after time, block Luke's attacks and force him back.

"Typical coward tactics." Leonidas observed disapprovingly. "Avoid and evade, you'll never win a fight if you never go on the offensive."

"I wouldn't say that." said Artie. "Keep watching."

He knew what was going to happen next. Luke would manage to get him in a headlock with his sword arm and have him drop his knives. Then he would grab Luke from the back of his head, flip him over, armor and all, and apply his own headlock while Luke struggled to get free. At least that's he thought would happen. Artie stood there shocked as Luke got him in a headlock then sliced his throat.

"It didn't happen like that!" he protested.

"Are you sure?" Leonidas asked calmly.

"Well considering I'm still breathing, yes I'm sure."

Leonidas waved his hand and the scene played in reverse like a tape. "My mistake. Let's try that again."

Now it happened exactly like Artie remembered. Artie flipped Luke over and applied his own headlock. Then Luke dropped his shield and turned the sword point towards himself. Artie watched as Luke stabbed to his side, burying the blade a foot and a half into his dream-self's chest. This was getting on his nerves.

Artie flinched as his dream-self fell sideways, "You know that's not how it happened."

"Do I?" sniffed the Hero-King. "Have you figured it out yet?"

"Why are you showing me this?" he demanded.

Leonidas just sighed and shook his head. "Blinding ignorance does mislead you, child. Open your eyes!"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Had this been a real fight." Leonidas began. "A fight to the death. You would have died several times. The ones you just witnessed were simply the most obvious."

"You mean I - - -"

"As you children say nowadays, Got lucky? Yes. And you're only deluding yourself in thinking otherwise."

Artie would have stood there and let it sink in, but Leonidas had other plans. "Now for your second claim. I believe you said you're skill in archery is second only to Chiron." He struck the ground again with his spear and the scene dissolved again.

Like before, Artie watched as his surroundings changed. Now he was in the camp's archery range. Like any normal day, it was currently occupied by the Apollo cabin. Some were trying to improve their speed by loosing arrows like human machine guns while other strove to improve their accuracy on targets nearly impossible to see in the distances. The few that weren't using bows sat on benches either strumming on various instruments or composing songs and poems. At the very end, he saw himself with his bow.

_It must be right after I returned from my quest_, he guessed. _I was still getting used to the bow._

He saw he was correct in his assessment. His twelve year old self struggled to pull back the heavy bowstring on a bow six and half feet tall, a full two feet taller than he was at the time. It had become less of problem as he grew over the next two years, but even now the bow was still taller than him by a little over half a foot. The grip had also been a pain to learn. Due to it's height the grip was not directly center but a full two thirds from the upper tip which meant he had to hold it much higher than a common bow, the arrow would be between his nose and upper lip whenever he aimed one. He had learned the hard way, that if he did a single thing wrong, he would be rewarded with the string striking the side of the his face. On three occasions, the string had cut so deep it left scars on his right cheek which was only visible under moonlight like many of his scars.

He and Leonidas watched in silence as his twelve year old self fired arrow after arrow at a target dummy. He missed nearly every shot and the ones that hit, barely scratched the dummy before continuing on thier path unhindered. The Apollo archers laughed to themselves as Artie stopped every few shots to lick the cuts on his fingers that drew the string and rub his forearm as the string repeatedly hit it every time he fired. Unlike the Apollo campers, he chose not use a leather bracer or finger tab when used his bow.

"Why not?" asked Leonidas.

"Why not what?" he responded.

"All the others are using some sort of protection." he said motioning to the various bracers and gloves.

"And if I got into a fight without them?" he explained. "I'd be dead if the fight lasted too long. I'd figured once my skin callused, I wouldn't ever need one. It seemed like fair trade for a few weeks of discomfort."

Leonidas nodded approvingly. It made sense. His military training had followed the same policy for every issue. They were intentionally starved so that during a campaign, hunger would not be a problem. To teach them to ignore weather, they would be given only one item of clothing per year, usually a simple red cloak or chiton. Whether the Artie meant to or not, he took a page out of the Spartan handbook by firing arrow after arrow till his fingers bled everyday for several weeks.

_There might be hope for this one_, Leonidas thought to himself.

Artie watched himself as remembered the days that would follow. Weeks of sore and shaking fingers that refused to do even the simplest task. He struggled to hold forks and knives during meals for more than a few seconds. His craftsmanship with leather working had taken a severe hit as a result and slowed him significantly. Still for all the minor trouble it caused him, he knew now that he had made the right decision.

"Impressive." remarked Leonidas sarcastically as dream Artie missed for the umpteeth time.

Artie scowled and told him. "Skip ahead a year."

"Very well." said Leonidas and he struck the ground with his spear.

Not much changed. They were still at the camp's archery range. There wasn't the slightest clue that any time had passed. The Apollo campers still occupied most of the range, with a few new faces that weren't there before, and Artie's dream-self was still in the same spot he had been before. However this version of Artie clearly had gotten used to the bow's difficult grip and firing requirements. He was taking aim at a target dummy about a hundred yards out. Even with a bow meant for great and near impossible distances, like his, it was still a difficult shot.

He raised the bow above his head as he nocked an arrow from his quiver. He then began bringing down the bow while spreading his arms, simultaneously pushing the bow with the left hand and drawing the string with the right, until the arrow was level with his eyebrows. Artie continued the movement, until he had fully drawn the string and the arrow was placed slightly below his cheek. He opened his right hand, releasing the arrow, and held the position as the arrow raced to the target and the bow spun in his left hand so that the string stopped on the outer forearm. A ghost of a smile appeared on his face, in response to the impressed whispering of the Apollo campers when the arrow split the dummy's helmet, and he fired again in the same calm practiced manner.

"Well?" Artie asked impatiently.

"Well what?" demanded Leonidas. "You're a child of Artemis, one of the twin archers of Olympus. It stands to reason archery would be one your skills."

Artie rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath, "You'd think so."

Leonidas managed to catch something being said, "What was that?"

"Nothing." said Artie quickly.

"You mumbled something. Out with it boy." Artie looked away and was reminded Leonidas was not used to being ignored. "NOW!"

"_Caramba, maldição seus ouvidos_." Artie uttered to himself before responding. "My archery is more of a honed skill than you think. Not alot of people know it, but archery did not come natural to me, not like the Apollo kids anyway."

Leonidas looked genuinely surprised. "I'm not sure I follow."

Artie sighed. This was not something he'd like to talk about. So much that no one, but Chiron knew with any certainty. "How do put this so you'll understand . . . ah, I got it. Look at the children of Apollo."

Leonidas turned his attention to the campers. "I see them."

Artie pointed to the archers. "Every single one of them is a child of my uncle, Apollo." He pointed as he continued explaining. "All of them can use a bow, compose poetry or music, and are excellent healers."

"But?" Leonidas asked, not sure where Artie was heading with this.

"But not all of them were born equal." Artie explained. "Some are better archers while others are more skilled in composing music and poetry or treating the sick. The same goes for all the children of the gods, including me."

Leonidas nodded as he began to understand. "So as the only child of Artemis, it would be impossible to see which skills you born with and which you honed."

"Exactly." Artie nodded. "From what I can put together, I have a more natural talent for tracking and laying traps. A survivalist hunter, if you will."

"You lost me again boy. You mean there are kinds of hunters?"

"I read a book once and I was confused too. The author said the act of hunting is divided into two sections and while both are needed, each person excels in one over the other. For example, tracking can come easy to me, it won't matter how many times I find an animal if my marksmanship is poor or vise versa."

"Which means you must hone the skill in which you lack." Leonidas understood. "Strengthen the weakest link."

"That's what I meant by I'm the best archer." Artie explained. "The Apollo kids take their skill for granted, since they haven't earned it like I had to, and so they don't practice like they should."

Leonidas seemed to be distracted. "It looks we are out of time. You'll be waking soon."

"Thank the gods." said Artie to himself, while this Leonidas had been more tolerable, he still preferred his normal dreams.

Leonidas handed him a piece of paper. "Read this when you reach the main gate of the Underworld."

Artie took the paper, "What is it?"

The Hero-King of Sparta opened his mouth to answer when Artie was jolted awake, by the the mistakable sound of a roaring lion and panicked screaming.


	12. Checking In

Most think animals are incapable of grasping the concept of revenge and therefor cannot hold grudges. Up until he learned that he could communicate with animals, Artie thought the same, but he learned rather harmlessly that he was wrong. The truckers on the other hand, were learning the same lesson in a much more dangerous fashion.

Mufasa went from overgrown lazy house cat to man-eating lion in under a second, leaping off Artie's legs and roared the very second the truckers opened the back of the trailer to check on the animals and drop off the zebra. Needless to say, they did the only natural thing when facing a very hungry and steamed lion, they fell back on their rear ends and screamed as they tried to scrambled to get to their feet. While animals did not believe in mercy, Artie did. He whistled as the lion began to give chase and the other zoo animals made a break for it, eager to be free and not be eaten by a lion. Mufasa looked at Artie with such an annoyed look, that Percy was sure Artie had just changed the menu from truckers to demigods.

"No." Artie said with clear authority to a three-hundred pound hungry carnivore. The lion huffed and left, ignoring the screams of pedestrians and tourists as he bounded down the Las Vegas strip.

Annabeth hopped off the truck. "Now would be a good time to leave." She called to Percy and Artie. "Come on, before the cops show up."

The trio stumbled out into the desert afternoon in comfortable hundred and ten degree temperature, well comfortable if you were a resident of Sin City. They passed the MGM and Monte Carlo as they walked down the strip. It was common knowledge that Las Vegas was located in the Mojave desert which often surpassed one-hundred and twenty degrees. Artie compared this to his time in the Atacama Desert in Chile as they passed the pyramids and the Statue of Liberty. If past experience was any indication, he was sure they would become badly sunburned if they didn't they get out of the sun, provided they didn't pass out from dehydration first. So Artie was relieved when they stopped in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino.

The doorman smiled at them. "Hey kids. You look tired. Wanna come in and sit down?"

Life as demigods had taught Artie and Annabeth to cautious, and he was sure Percy had learned the same in the past week or two. The thing was, just about anyone could be anything. This doorman could be a mortal just easily as he could be a monster or even a god. You just couldn't tell, by looks anyway. Artie politely sniffed the air around the doorman and found he smelled like flowers. He instantly knew the man was mortal. He relaxed when he realized this and assumed the flower smell was most likely the man's cologne or walked inside castiously, making sure to watch the doorman from the corners of thier vision.

"_Pela lua e as estrelas_" Artie whispered when he got a good look.

"What he said." said Percy just as quietly.

"Ditto." agreed Annabeth.

The whole lobby was a giant game room. And this was not one's run of the mill arcade filled with old cheesy games like Pac-man and Asteroid. There was an indoor water slide that snaked around a glass elevator, that went straight up for forty floors at least. There was a climbing wall similar to the one at Camp Half Blood, with the lava and earthquakes removed of course, on one side of the building with a indoor bungee-jumping bridge on the opposite side. There were even virtual reality suit with working lasers guns. And hundreds of video games, each with a huge big screen TV. Despite the relatively small amount of kids playing, waitresses walked around serving food from the various snack bars located all over the lobby.

A person, a belhop they guessed, appeared and handed them each green plastic cards with a smile. "Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here's your room keys."

Percy tried to protest. "Um . . . but . . ."

"No, no." he said, laughing. "The bill's taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go to the top floor to room 4001. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub or skeet for the shooting range, just ring the front desk. Those cards work at all the restaurants and on all the games and rides."

Annabeth held up her card. "How much is on here?"

His eyebrows knit together. "What do you mean?"

"When does it run out of cash?"

He laughed again. "Oh you're making a joke. That's cool. Enjoy your stay."

They decided to head upstairs and checkout their room. They saw it was a three room suite each with a bar stocked with soda, candy, and chips. On the nightstands were hotlines for room service. Next to the nightstands were huge queen size waterbeds with fluffy pillows. Like the lobby, there was a huge screen TV with satellite and high speed internet that took up most of the wall opposite the bed. Like the bellhop had said there was hot tub on the balcony and sure enough, a shotgun with a skeet machine so one could fire at clay pigeons over the Las Vegas skyline. For the better part of a second, Artie and Percy contemplated the legal ramifications of this but decided not to dwell on it and enjoy the view of the city down below.

"Oh goodness." Annabeth said. "This place is . . . "

"Sweet." Artie finished for her. "Absolutely sweet."

They found clothes in the closet. Clothes that fit them perfectly which they found strange but quickly forgot when they each found a bathroom and the showers just waiting to be used. Once out, Percy drank several can of coke and ate a bag of chips and exited the bedroom. He found Artie eating a bag of chips with several empty bags around him and Annabeth cranking the National Geographic channel.

"All those stations." he told her. "And you pick National Geographic. Are you insane?"

"Its interesting."

"Finally some luck." cried Artie as he jumped onto the bed behind him. "I love this place."

"So what now?" Annabeth asked. "Sleep?"

Artie and Percy locked eyes and nodded to each other. Percy held up his Lotus cash card. "Play time."

Even before arriving at Camp Half Blood, Artie was used to going without many luxuries. The only entertainment he actually paid money for was whenever he and his brother managed to save enough money to purchase tickets for the local cinema. Film had always been a passion of his. If one were to enter Cabin Eight, they would find a shelf around the interior of the cabin with dozens upon dozens of DVDs, ranging from the early works of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton to the latest cookie cutter Hollywood blockbuster. He had acquired his massive collection by trading favors and several leather items with the members of the Hermes cabin, mostly Connor and Travis Stoll. For him, like many who enjoy films, it was an escape. For those brief hours, he wasn't Artie, he was merely a spectator of others.

So while Percy and Annabeth enjoyed the various games and rides in the lobby, Artie was munching down on popcorn and soda while he watched film after film. He nearly choked as he laughed at hilarious comedies. He jumped in his seat during a particularly terrifying horror picture. He oohed and aahed at exciting, and quite frankly impossible even in a world where gods existed, action scenes. He even choked back tears during a heartbreaking scene from an awarding winning drama. He was well into one of his most favorite films when Annabeth and Percy busted in.

_ "Now take me to jail_. " Artie said, quoting the movie.

"We're in one already." said Percy.

Artie paused the movie. "Say again?"

"This place is a trap." Annabeth explained. "There people here from the seventies. People who haven't aged. You check in, and you stay forever."

"And the bad news?" he asked before resuming the movie.

Percy stepped in front of the TV. "We need to leave. The Underworld. Our quest!"

Artie leaned to the side, trying to see past Percy when Tobias flew into the room with a screech. The bird of prey landed on Annabeth's shoulder, careful not to dig his talons too deep. Normally Annabeth would have swatted him off her shoulder but something held her back as Tobias cawed several times to Percy as if trying to communicate something important.

"What's he doing?" Percy asked.

"He's trying to tell us something." Annabeth guessed. "But I'm not sure what."

Tobias hissed as he opened his wings, thrusting them forward like arms. He then folded them in way that looked like the bird was pointing to itself. Unless Percy was going crazy, Tobias was motioning him to watch him. Percy nodded for Tobias to continue. Tobias then, gently, slapped Annabeth with the back of his wings. He did it twice more, slowly so Percy understood. Percy nodded and walked to Artie when Tobias flew in front him, blocking him, and landed next to Artie.

"What?" he asked the bird. Tobias pointed a wing towards Annabeth. Percy nodded again. "Ohhh, gotcha."

"What is it?" Annabeth asked. "What is trying to say?"

Percy whispered in her ear what he thought Tobias was trying to convey. "For some reason, he wants you to do it."

Annabeth did her best to hide a smile. "Okay. If it'll help." And with that she walked up to Artie and slapped him. "Snap out of it!"

"_Filho da puta!" _cursed Artie, holding his cheek. Then he blinked as if coming out of a trance. "_Que realmente ferido, Cristo!_ . . . Wait, did you say something about a trap?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes and explained again. "This place is designed so you never want to leave. You check in, but you stay forever. There are people here as far back as the seventies."

"Not only that." Percy added. "Time slows down here. Some say they've only been a few weeks at most. Gods only know how long we've been here."

Artie looked around at the huge collection of DVDs all over the bed and floor. He did a rough count and found a total of eighty movies give or take. "Annabeth what's eighty times ninety?"

Annabeth cocked her head as she worked it out. "Exactly seventy-two hundred, Why?"

"And if you divide that by sixty and then twenty-four?"

"We don't have time for this." Percy protested.

"We may already be too late." Artie said. "Annabeth, what's the answer. This is important!"

It took Annabeth one agonizing minute to come up with the solution. "Five. It's five."

"_Impossível! que não pode estar certo_." Artie said before switching to English. "Are you sure? This could mean failure if you're wrong."

"I'm sure. I did it twice. But I'll write it out to make sure."

Artie tossed her a pencil and a notepad from the nightstand. While Annabeth worked Artie scrambled around the room. Stuffing several things into a backpack, clothes and food mostly with a couple of DVDs for his own collect back at Camp Half Blood.

"Would one of you explain what's going on?" Percy demanded. "This isn't time for math homework."

Artie stopped for a moment to explain. He pointed to the DVDs. "There's roughly eighty movies."

"Yeah, so what?"

"Most movies are an hour and half long. That's ninety minutes. If you multiply ninety by the number of movies, eighty like I said, and you get the amount of we've been here which is seventy-two hundred minutes."

"Then you divide that by sixty to get the same amount in hours." explained Annabeth as she worked. "Finally divide that by twenty-four and the answer is how long we've been stuck here."

Percy nodded shakily, not sure he wanted to know. "Which is?"

Annabeth held up the paper with hastily drawn numbers. "Five days. We've been here five days."

Artie gulped. "Which means . . ."

"We have only one day to return the master bolt. One day to finish our quest." Percy concluded.


	13. When In Rome

Artie and Annabeth stood on beach of Santa Monica as Percy walked into the surf. Artie found that the beach looked exactly like the beaches he had seen in countless films and shows, but the smell had something to be desired. Artie was glad one of Annabeth's hunches had paid off, otherwise they'd still be struck without a way west and less than a day to return the master bolt. When Annabeth explained her idea of using their Lotus Casino cash cards to pay a taxi to take them all the way to California, Artie was understandably skeptical. So right now he was enjoying the refreshing breeze as Annabeth stood next to him and Tobias ate a fish he stole from a seagull.

Artie stuck his hands into his pockets. He frowned when he felt something that shouldn't be there. He pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from his right front pocket. He instantly flashed to Leonidas handing him a slip of paper in his last dream before they entered the Lotus Casino. He carefully uncrumpled the paper and saw a three line poem. It took him a moment or two to read the line, cursing his dyslexia for the umpteenth time.

_Dogs, like wolves, have a keen ear_

_Dogs, like wolves, eat deer_

_But Dogs, unlike wolves, can't smell fear_

He found the line to be fairly straightforward. The poem were merely stating that despite the countless similarities between wolves and dogs, the latter was incapable of smelling fear. Artie read the lines several times over and could not see how this would help them at all. Maybe if Hades requested a three line poem explaining the difference between two similar animal, that he highly doubted would happen. Then again he thought, stranger things had happened, he was living proof of that.

Annabeth caught him reading the poem. "What's that?"

The paper disappeared into his back pocket. "Nothing."

"Its not nothing." she said. "Come on, let me see." She smiled wryly. "Unless its from your girlfriend."

Artie raised an eyebrow. "You wanna rethink that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. Who else besides you and Percy don't seem to be afraid of me or hate me?"

"Why would they hate you?"

"Take your pick." Artie said. "See if you can name a cabin that doesn't have a problem with me."

"Demeter." said Annabeth. "Cabin four."

"They're Vegetarians."

"What does that have to do with - Ohhh . . . Not big on the whole hunting for food thing right?"

Artie nodded. "Wanna keep going?"

"Cabin Ten, Aphrodite."

"Faux furs."

"Same as the Demeter cabin then?"

Artie nodded again. "Apparently they prefer their furry cute rabbits alive rather in a stew and made into a pair of boots."

"What about the Hephaestus cabin? Cabin nine? I know for sure Beckondorf doesn't have a problem with you."

"He doesn't but the rest do." Artie explained. "Well to be fair, I guess you can't say we have a problem with each other. Their jealous they can't work with leather like I can and I''ll admit I'm jealous I have to go to them every time I need something metal related."

"So not everyone hates you." Annabeth concluded. "My cabin doesn't hate you. At least I don't."

"No, they don't." He admitted. "But they are afraid of me. Ever since my first capture the flag game."

Annabeth shuddered. She remembered when she helped carry Clarisse and her friends to the infirmary. Just remembering the those wounds made her uneasy. It reminded her of the documentaries she had seen on how wild animal left their prey. She was on defense when it happened, guarding their flag on the other side of the woods, so she was one of the few who did not see what had happened.

Somehow Artie had, with his bare hands and teeth, punctured bronze breastplates and helmets. He had left deep scratches on their shields and also snapped all of their spears, with Clarisse's being the only exception. Her spear would survive until Percy arrived at camp only two years later. She had often wondered how exactly he did all that with his bare hands, now she knew. When Artie was scared he, like most animals when backed into a corner, would lash out with everything he had not hesitating to use his nails and teeth. When she thought about it, she cursed herself for not figuring it out sooner. Artie couldn't match any of the Ares campers in strength or swordsmanship or even her siblings in the Athena cabin for that matter. Sure he was faster and more agile, but that hardly mattered if he didn't have the power to pierce the thick bronze breastplate they wore during the game.

"So what is that paper?" she asked again.

"Like I said nothing."

She frowned. "You're a idiot."

"What?"

"You say everyone has a problem with you. Did it ever occur to you that you give them a good reason to?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, have you tried to make a friend? Like actually talk and spend time with someone that wasn't covered in fur or feathers?" She ignored Tobias's angry cawing at that last remark.

Artie opened his mouth to respond but froze. Annabeth was right he realized. He never had thought about it that way. Was is possible that he avoided others as much as they avoided him? Sure he had a reputation, but rather than do his best to extinguish it, he had just rolled over and took it. The story of his life he thought, as he came to the realization. Leonidas was right, he had been running from everything in his life. He avoided dealing with the loss of his family by keeping himself busy and forcing not to deal with it. He had learned it was his scent as a demigod that brought IT to his home and the death of his brother and mother right behind, and what did he do? He watched film after film so for the briefest of periods, he did not exist except to watch and listen. Even in his dreams, he did the same, mentally choosing to live in the past while he still had his blissful ignorance.

He swore to himself, right then and there, that if he survived this quest, he would change ways, starting with camp. For years he had lived like a frightened rabbit at Camp Half Blood, not daring to leave the magically protected sanctuary. That was going to change. First of all, he would only return for the summer session that lasted roughly three months. Second, he would use the remaining nine months of the year to track down the monster that ruined his life or die trying, and gods help anything that stood in his way.

A voice chuckled deeply in the back of his head. _"And then there was light."_

_If you're expecting an apology for ignoring you for so long_, Artie told the Spartan Hero-King, _don't get you're hopes up. _

Leonidas chuckled again,_ I can wait. It's not as if I'm going anywhere._

_Look I get it_, he snapped, _You were right and I was wrong. Can you leave me alone already._

_ I will for now, _said Leonidas_, but remember you take even the smallest step back, so will I and you won't find it so easy to be rid of me._

And with that Artie's mind suddenly grew calmer and quieter as the foreign presence faded into nothing .Artie felt as if the world had been lifted off his shoulders. No more battle crazy Greek soldiers from the past to mentally torment him in the back of his or in his dreams. He may not survive long enough to enjoy it for more than a day, but he was going to make the most of it.

He smiled and handed Annabeth the poem. "Here, maybe you can make sense of this. You're the smart one of the group anyway."

Annabeth took the paper, but didn't read it. "Why are you doing that?"

"Doing what?" Artie asked.

"Smiling like that." Annabeth answered. "No offense, but you're creeping me out."

"I'm not sure I can explain it," Artie still smiling like the Cheshire cat. "But lets just say it just a lot quieter all of a sudden."

Annabeth was about to ask him to try to explain when Percy walked out of the surf. He explained how the Nereid had given him three white pearls and to smash them at their feet when the reached the Underworld. Artie guessed them to be a way to escape the Underworld. He made the assumption based on what Percy quoted from the Nereid,' what belongs to the sea will always return to the sea'. Normally he would have indulged more time to figure out exactly what she had meant, but Percy and Annabeth had agreed there wasn't much time. They had to find the entrance of the Underworld which according to the packing slip from Medusa, was DOA Recording Studios.

* * *

><p>They wandered until it grew dark a lots of unsavory characters came out of the woodwork. They passed several gang bangers, bums, and street hawkers, all who looked as if they were considering if the three kids walking by would be worth the trouble to mug. Apparently they were, and they learned this as they walked down an alley and found themselves at a dead end.<p>

"Hey you." a voice called from the darkness.

They turn to see what called them, three mean looking white kids appeared. They all wore the same expensive looking clothes and mean sneers. Percy instantly was reminded of his time at Yancy academy. These were rich kid playing at being bad boys. Percy was about to uncap Riptide as Annabeth reached for her knife, but Artie stopped them.

"I got this." he said, walking up to them. He asked the one in the middle. "Do you think you can give us directions?"

"I'm sure we can come to an arrangement." he said in a smooth voice as the ones on either side each drew a switchblade. "I can tell you're new here - - -"

Artie had decided not waste time with the typical macho man banter and skip to the inevitable fight. He knew his knives couldn't hurt them, they were mortals after all, but he didn't need them. He slashed upwards with his left hand, nails growing into claws instinctively, and left three gruesome looking cuts across the kid on his right. The kid screamed and fell back clutching his face, naturally dropping the knife. Not giving the one on the left a chance to react, he slashed his other hand and left three more gashes across his face, these went horizontal rather then vertically. They did the natural thing and ran, leaving their boss at the freak's mercy.

The boss just stood there dumbfounded. Artie was fairly sure the Mist had obscured the truth as he wiped the small amount of blood and skin from his hands, but he knew he had seen something. Percy was about to step in when Annabeth held him back and shook her head. She could tell Artie wasn't himself and she had no desire to attempt a time bomb, this mortal was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Artie's voice was quite casual. "I'm sorry, did I break your concentration?" He asked. "I didn't mean to do that. Please, continue, you were saying something about us being new. What's the matter? Oh, you were finished! Well, allow me to retort."

Artie grabbed the wannabe gangster from the front of his shirt and slammed him against the alley wall. "Where can we find DOA Recording Studios?"

"What?" he squeaked.

Artie slammed against the wall again, "What country are you from?"

Naturally this confused the punk, "What? What? Wh - ?"

Arte growled deep in his throat. It sounded very much like their big feline friend Mufasa , " 'What ' ain't no country I've ever heard of. They speak English in What?"

"What?"

"English, M#$%#$%r, do you speak it?" Artie demanded.

"Yes, Yes." he was on the verge of tears."

"Then you know what I'm sayin'!"

"Yes!"

"Where can we find DOA Recording Studios?"

"What?"

The nails that held the punk's shirt grew and punctured just under his chin like shaving cuts. Artie raised his free hand and held up behind his head, threating to strike, "Say 'what' again. Say 'what' again, I dare you, I double dare you M#$%#$%r, say what one more time! "

"T-t-t-ther's a s-s-s-small r-r-recording studio down the street. A b-b-block or two past Crusty's Waterbed Palace. T-t-that might be the one you're looking for."

"Thank you." said Artie and threw him into the trashcans on his left. "Now get out of here before I decide to make you my scratching post."

Annabeth and Percy watched as the punk scrambled to his feet and run as fast his feet could take him. Artie waved them to follow as they went back the way they came down the alley. Percy wasn't sure where the sudden outburst came from, but he thought he was beginning to understand why the other campers might be afraid of him. Percy continued to wander as they passed Crusty's Waterbed Palace. Artie stopped to look at the store.

"He said a block or two past Crusty's right?" Artie unsure.

"Where did that come from?" Percy asked.

"Well I assume like any other building." Artie answered.

"He means the whole face cutting thing?" Annabeth explained. "Don't you think it was a little overboard?"

"Not really." He shrugged. "I made sure to avoid the eyes and this is Hollywood, land of the beautiful people. I doubt they don't have money for a plastic surgeon from those expensive clothes. I was planning on talking our way out when they pulled the knives. I wasn't about to give them the chance to use them."

"He kinda has a point." Percy pointed out. "It's not like we could fight them with our weapons. Chiron did say celestial bronze can't hurt mortals. And we don't exactly have time to waste on wannabe bad boys."

Annabeth considered his words. "Alright," she said reluctantly. "But try not to make it a habit."

"Only as a last resort." Artie promised. With that they continued walking the street.

It wasn't two minutes before Percy broke the silence. "Hey Artie?"

"Yeah?"

"What you said to that guy, that sounded familiar."

Artie smiled. "I hope so. That came from one of my favorite movies of all time."

"Which movie?"

"Samuel L. Jackson said it in the classic 1994 American crime film by Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction." Artie said proudly as if it was he who made the movie.

"Okay." said Percy. "But why quote a movie in the first place."

"Seemed like a good idea at the time. Plus since we're in Hollywood, I figured 'When in Rome' . . ."

They eventually made it to DOA Recording Studio. They stood in front and saw the sign that read, NO SOLICITATION, NO LOITERING, NO LIVING. It each took them a minute or two to actually read the sign with their dyslexia.

"I think we're here." said Percy.

"Apparently today is a good day to die." Annabeth half joked.

"Personally I'd say we push dying to Friday and have a meaningful discussion on Thursday to see if we can push to Sunday." Artie fully joked.


	14. Upon Further Review

Despite the gravity of the situation, Artie couldn't help being a little jealous of Percy's skill with a sword. Here he was not even a year of training and Percy was actually holding his against the god of war himself. Sure he was using the ocean to hold Ares back while it gave him power, but considering his opponent, Artie couldn't fault him at all. At any rate, it wasn't as if he could hope to do any better. He'd probably still be struggling with the giant boar and he would have surely gained a few more scars from the encounter. He and Annabeth each had given him their camp necklaces, a grand total of seven years. Artie knew Percy was fighting to prevent an all out war between the gods, but just standing there bored him. Watching a sword fight never had been particularity entertaining to him, even one as important as this. So he decided to replay the last few hours, to get a better understanding of what was going on. He took a relaxing breath and closed his eyes.

They had just gotten off Charon's ferry after Percy had bribed the ferryman with several golden drachmas and a promise of talking to Hades about a pay raise. On the way he could hear the howling of something big in the distance, and now they were at the gate, he could see the source. It was none other than the guardian of the Underworld, a giant three headed Rottweiler, Cerberus.

"Why is he getting easier to see?" asked Percy.

Annabeth gulped and licked her lips, "I think it's because we're getting closer to being dead."

"That's reassuring." said Artie. "Percy, whenever you're ready."

They slowly advanced and the middle head snarled while the other two barked so loudly that Artie would have sworn a jet just took off next to his ear. Like all dogs. he could understand Cerberus. He was surprised how much like a normal dog Cerberus was. What Cerberus conveyed confused him and he realized something. Despite all his obvious size and ferocity, Cerberus still a dog. Which meant with all his bark and bite, he was merely defending his master and territory, namely Hades and the Underworld, like any normal dog. Artie began mentally sorting through all he knew on dogs, rottweilers in particular, while Percy went ahead with his plan.

Percy took a big wooden post - a piece of trash they had found just outside the studio - and waved it overhead. "Hey big fella, I bet they don't play with you much." Cerberus merely responded with a low growl. "Good boy."

Artie continued to watch as Percy waved the stick. The middle head followed the stick while the other two focused entirely on Percy. For better or worse, Percy had his undivided attention. Percy tossed the stick and Cerberus watched it fly before returning his gaze back to Percy, unimpressed. He growled again, much deeper this time. Artie thought it best to translate.

"Um." he said. "Percy?"

"He's giving us ten seconds to turn back."

"Or what?"

"Well he's . . . hungry."

Annabeth began digging around in her bag. "I think I got something." She produced a red rubberball from Waterland. "My dad used to have a doberman. They taught us a few things in obediance school."

She took a step forward but Artie stopped her. "You better let me do it."

"Does that make a difference?"

Artie nodded. "Iif worst come to worst, I can run alot faster than either of you."

Annabeth handed him the ball. "Okay. but be careful."

Artie took a deep breath and walked forward. As he did, two things went through his head. The first was, why did have Hades have to chose a rottweiler of all things? He knew why Hades had chosen this particular one, but it didn't make him feel any less terrified. Based on breeds, they made excellent guard dogs with their inherent desire to protect. Combined with an intelligent and a patient wait-and-see attitude, this dog was not be trifled with. He was comforted, if only slightly, by the fact they preferred to intimidate rather than attack.

The second was the poem Leonidas had given him. It was starting to make sense to him. He knew from experience that dogs were excellent readers of body language. It was a well known fact for a dog to obey was make sure he understood that the human was the alpha male. And the best way to do that was, regardless of all barking and growling, to show no fear. It taught the dog that he could not do as he pleased and it taught guard dogs that if the person in question wasn't afraid, he was on the guest list. It was a trick one could not repeat with most wild animals, like wolves for instance, because most could smell fear as well as sense it. So theoretically, Cerberus would recognize Artie, or anyone for that matter, and allow him passage, only as long he didn't sense any fear.

That was easier said than done he thought as he walked forward. While the two previous subject occupied about sixty percent of his mind, the remaining forty was screaming for him to stop and rethink what he was doing. It was barely coherent, which helped him ignore it, if only slightly.

_ Ahhh! Get out of there! Get out of there now!, _it echoed in the back of his head. _Run! Run! What are you doing? I said run! The other way! Go the other way! Can you hear me?_

Artie now stood in front of Cerberus, not daring to make a move. Cerberus regarded the small skinny demigod and roared with all three heads. The roar temporarily deafened Artie as well as Percy and Annabeth. The roar also blew his Party Pony bandana off his head along with his sunglasses. Artie dug his claws into his palm, to prevent himself from giving into his old habit, with alot more screaming involved for this occasion. Cerberus cocked his head and barked, again Artie did not dare move. Cerberus bent down to sniff Artie with all three heads. It was only then did Artie dare move, and offered Cerberus the ball.

With surprising dexterity, the middle head gently took the ball from his hand and chewed it playfully. Instantly the other two heads began to fight the middle for it. Artie motioned for Percy and Annabeth to quietly take advantage of the distraction. They quietly tip toed under his belly, careful not to make a sound. Annabeth motioned him to keep Cerberus distracted.

Artie looked up and was surprised his voice worked at all. "Drop it." Cerberus looked at him. "Drop it." he repeated trying sound more commanding.

Cerberus dropped the ball at his feet. He picked it up and ignored the slobber. "Good boy, now speak." Cerberus barked enthusiastically and tossed the ball to him.

Like before one of the heads caught the ball and the other two fought for it. Artie took the opportunity to quickly slip under Cerberus and joined his friends just behind a rotting tree trunk. His heart was threatening to burst through his chest and his breathing was quickened significantly, but despite that he smiled. Maybe there was something to facing down one's fear after all. They quickly made their way to the Fields of Asphodel.

Upon discussing it with Percy and Annabeth, he agreed that the dead weren't scary, simply depressing. He also agreed that the fields of punishment was something to defiantly avoid at all costs. And he absolutely agreed that if he were to die, he should aim for Elysium and the Isles of the Blest. They're conversation was cut short by the distant screech, the sound of their old friends from the bus accident, the Furies.

"I don't suppose its too late to turn back?" Artie asked.

"You wanna go through Cerberus again?" Percy responded.

Artie shuddered, "Okay let's split up and meet back in an hour. I call dibs on Elysium."

Annabeth frowned, "Stop messing around. This is serious."

"Okay, _you_ get Elysium while Percy searches the fields of punishment." Artie smiled. "Which means I get the Isles of the - -Whoa!"

Artie's words were cut short as the wings on his flying sandals sprouted and his legs pulled forward. He fell back as the shoes began pulling him away from Annabeth. The shoes began flapping like crazy and levitated off the ground and began dragging him away from his friends.

"_Maia! Maia_ already. _O que diabos? _A little help guys?" Artie called out as the shoes began dragging him down the hill.

Annabeth shouted as she and Percy took off after him. "Untie the shoes."

It made sense to Artie, but it was one thing to casually untie and slip out of one shoes while standing or sitting, it was another thing entirely to do it while being dragged through the air by said shoes. Still that didn't stop him trying. He bent forward and reached for the straps. He began pulling at them and slowly, them started coming loose. He risked a look to where the sandals were dragging him. He caught a glimpse of the gates to Hades's palace when the the shoes veered sharply to the right and he lost his grip on the sandals and fell back.

With curse he drew his knives and twisted so he was facing the ground. Like he did to slow his fall at the St. Louis arch, Artie stabbed the ground as hard as he could. He reasoned if he could anchor himself long enough, Percy and Annabeth could catch up and relieve him of those shoes, but fate is rarely so kind. When he buried his knives to the hilt, it did indeed stop him. He let loose a breath of relief when suddenly, they snapped like dry twigs. Artie just stared at the hilts in his hands before the shoes flipped onto his back and continued dragging him through air as Percy and Annabeth tried to catch up. He looked between his feet and saw the shoes were taking him to a cave. He sensed something evil down there and he began to panic slightly, clawing at the ground for something to grab.

Then it hit him. Clawing!, he brought his hands up and saw his claws had sprouted, like they always did whenever he panicked. He managed to bend forward again and jammed his fingertips into the leather that made the shoe on his left foot. He winced when he felt his claws puncture the side of his foot, but there would be time to worry about it later. He slashed downward and the leather straps came loose from the sole which continued flying, now much faster without any weight holding it back. He smiled as he slowed down significantly, the right shoe clearly could not carry his weight by itself. Up head he could see a large chasm, so he quickly repeated the action, once again ignoring the claws digging into his flesh. He landed with soft oof and saw the sandals fly down the chasm together, as if they were still dragging him along, and disappeared.

Percy and Annabeth reached him a few seconds later. As they helped him up, Artie could see his claws had sliced his foot along with the sandals. He wasn't worried. The cuts were small and shallow, no worse than a shave cut, and had already stopped bleeding. The gravel felt uncomfortable, but not unbearable since the soles of his feet had callused a long time ago. He could wait till they reached the mortal world to find a new pair of shoes, assuming they made it back.

"_Pelos deuses_ . . . I don't know why . . ." Artie panted trying to catch his breath.

"Wait." said Percy. "Listen."

Artie did as he said and was quiet. Artie though he heard a faint whisper in the darkness. Unless he was mistaken, it was coming from the pit a few feet ahead of them.

"Percy." said Annabeth. "This place - - -"

"Shh." Percy stood.

The whisper came again, louder this time. Now Artie was sure, it was coming from the pit. Someone or something, was calling out from really, really far down below. For some reason the voice made Artie feel uneasy. Whatever was down there, eh was sure he didn't want to meet it.

Artie saw the scared look on Annabeth's face, she could hear it too. "Tarturus. The entrance to Tartarus."

Artie's eyes snapped open as he was jerked violently out of his stroll down memory lane. Ares had roared so loud it shook the very ground itself, and Artie saw why. Percy had managed to stab Ares in the foot, causing the golden ichor to mix with waves that came in and out on the beach. Despite the look Ares was giving Percy, Artie found their meeting with Hades much more daunting. Mostly due to finding out Hades was angry with him. It was more of an annoyance than anything when compared how mad he was at Percy, but still one did wish to annoy the lord of the dead unless you had a wish to be dead yourself.

In his mind's eye, Artie reviewed their audience with Hades. He watched the dead guards carefully as they made their way to the throne room. They saw warriors from vastly different time periods. There were ancient Greek solders all the way to more modern day warrior, Marine Corps with RPG's for example. They were about to knock on the door to the throne room when it opened with a small gust of wind.

"I guess that means _entrez-vous_." said Annabeth.

Like the other gods, Hades's resembled countless historic people, or ather they resembled him. Artie was instantly reminded of Adolph Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte. Then he saw a resemblance to terrorist leaders that directed suicide bombers. They all had the same intense look in their eyes. A look that made you think these were individuals who would set the world ablaze just to watch it burn.

"You are very brave to come here, Son of Poseidon." he said in an oily smooth voice. "After what you've done to me. Very brave indeed, or perhaps you're simply very foolish."

Percy stepped forward. "Lord and Uncle, I've come with two requests."

Hades flicked to Percy as he spoke then he switched unmistakably to Artie. "I see that thieves still band together. Tell me boy, how do you find your second life? Don't tell me you've grown bored with my generous gift."

Artie's eyes widened as his mind went into overdrive, unable to form a complete thought, "I . . . um . . . I mean . . . uh . . ."

Hades grew bored with Artie's stammering. "I'll deal with you later. I've more important matters." Hades turned to Percy. "You were saying?"

Percy gulped and repeated, "I've come with two requests."

"The first?"

"Return the master bolt to me. Please, let me carry it to Olympus to prevent war."

Hades grew angry, "You dare keep up this pretense, after what you've done?"

From there Artie memory grew fuzzy. He was aware of the countless warriors that flooded the throne room and readied their weapons. He vaguely remembered Hades explaining how did not want war and how he did not wish to expand his kingdom as it had already swollen significantly in the last century. Percy and Annabeth continued speaking with Hades as it became apparent they had been tricked. Somehow Zeus's master bolt had appeared in Percy's backpack. He was still frozen in place as the lord of the dead's words echoed in his head.

_ Tell me boy, how do you find your second life? Don't tell me you've grown bored with my generous gift._

The words caught him by surprise. He had often been told he shouldn't be alive, mostly by the Hunters and other demigods. When in a dark mood, he would laugh to himself at the irony of it all. He agreed he shouldn't be alive, but it wasn't because he was a child of Artemis. For him it was far more literal than he liked to admit. He didn't know why he kept it secret. When he learned the story of his birth, she had not instructed for him to do so. And yet it was only him, his mother, and of course Hades that knew. It made sense Hades would be angry with him, he was never pleased when someone entered his realm and left, especially one who should be there.

The next thing he remembered clearly was Percy handing him a pearl and one to Annabeth as well before turning to Hades. "I'll find your helm Uncle. I'll return it. Remember Charon's pay raise."

"Do not defy me." bellowed Hades angrily.

"And it wouldn't hurt to play with Cerberus once in a while. He likes red rubber balls."

They managed to destroy the pearls at their feet and escape just as the dead solders attacked. They flew straight through the solid rock roof and eventually entered the sea. They continued their pace without slowing and broke the surface of the water, knocking a surfer off his board. Artie recognized they were back in Santa Monica Bay just before he heard explosions and an earthquake. No doubt Hades furious and LA was going to find out first hand how furious. The coastguard eventually picked them out of the water and took them ashore before rushing off to the chaos that was LA.

Artie gently opened his eyes and saw that Ares was gone and Percy was handing a helmet to the Furies. They looked annoyed, but took the helmet and flew off. Percy retook the bag with the master bolt from Annabeth. Artie could hear the sirens from what was left of the police cars and the officers as they shouted and made their way to them.

"We have to get to New York." said Percy. "By tonight."

"That's impossible." Annabeth objected. "Unless we - -"

"Fly." Artie finished for. He rubbed his temples and sighed. "You know Percy, You're running out of gods to annoy."

Percy gave them a tired smile, "Yeah, I think so too. Come on, I got an idea."


	15. They Got A Lot Of Coffee In Brazil

"Artie?" asked Annabeth.

"Yeah?" He grunted as he struggled with a bag of peanuts. "_Quem são eles para deixar de fora destas coisas?"_

"Did you hear a word I said?"

"Yeah," he said as he finally won his fight against the in-flight peanuts. He popped a few into his mouth. "Ares caught the thief that stole Zeus's master bolt and Hades's helm from Olympus, but didn't turn him in. The theif then convinces him to hold onto them to create a spectacular war between the gods." Artie popped more peanuts. "Then we come along and he gives us the bolt to take to Hades, knowing that Hades will accuse and kill Percy for stealing his helm which causes a three way fight between three of the most powerful gods on Olympus with the other gods taking sides."

"In a nutshell." agreed Annabeth.

Artie leaned to see how Percy was doing. "Hasn't moved since we took off."

Annabeth looked at Percy as well. "Can't exactly blame him."

"I can." Artie began struggling with another bag of peanuts. "We'll be fine."

"We're flying thirty- thousand feet in the air with a son of Poseidon." Annabeth reminded him . "How is that fine?"

"Zeus wants his master bolt returned as soon as possible, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Then unless I missed something, he won't risk losing it again by blasting us out of the sky."

Annabeth seemed to accept his logic, "Alright, you got a point. Still I'll feel better once we land."

Artie nodded and stared out the window. He was hours away from a hot shower and fresh clothes. In a few hours, they would land, return to camp, and everything would be back to normal, well normal as things were for demigods. He could look forward to a summer of hunting in the woods; curing the hides of what he caught, strumming his guitar on the roof of his cabin as the sun went down, and popping in a DVD before he went to sleep.

_But what about after?, _he asked himself.

Come the end of summer session, only a handful would stay until summer began again. It was always the problem he had, filling the hours of the day until summer began. As much as he liked leatherworking, he couldn't in good conscious kill and skin animals just because he was bored. He always preferred to have a reason, namely the leather. He knew the amount of people who wanted sandals in winter, would be miniscule. So that was out. He couldn't very well watch movies until summer began, he was fairly sure he'd run out of DVD's before January.

_There are other hunting grounds,_ suggested a voice in his head, _You said that you would hunt down the monster that killed your family._

_And you said you would leave me alone_, Artie countered.

_I believe me exact words were 'you take even the smallest step back, so will I'_

_ So you're saying if I don't, you're just gonna go back to your original plan and annoy me till i go . . . Alright you win._

Once again the presence faded from his mind. Artie briefly considered what he would need. The last time he had to fend for himself, he had been forced to leave with nothing but the clothes on his back and one very helpful bird. But now he had the benefit of experience and resources. Food and water would not be a problem, as there plenty of freshwater sources with even more animals that drank from them. He would not have to set traps to catch his food, now that he had a bow and an endless supply of arrows. He had picked up enough from the Apollo cabin to treat any injury he wasn't careful enough to avoid, but he would have to make sure to pack enough nectar and ambrosia for the more exotic injuries demigods were known to receive.

_But I'm going to actually need armor this time around_, Artie rubbed his shoulder, still sore from the Medusa snakes and Fury bites. _Problem is, I need something light enough for me to wear a long time, but won't rip like paper in a serious fight._

During capture the flag, most campers wore the same kind of armor. A bronze breastplate which was designed to protect the chest. But weighing anywhere between thirty to sixty pounds, it would limit his mobility significantly, maybe even critically. Solid bronze would not only slow him down, but it would tire him much faster since he didn't tend stay in the same spot for more than a moment or two when he fought in close combat, which he knew would sometimes be unavoidable. So a standard breastplate and helmet was out of the question. He briefly considered leather armor. It was certainly much lighter and it wouldn't limit his mobility too much. It would hold up well under bludgeoning strikes, but it was surprisingly easy to cut and tear without much effort. He would have to wear so many layers, he would have the same problem he had with solid bronze armor.

_ I wonder_, a thought came to him, _how heavy a breastplate would be if it was made entirely of moonsilver?_

Moonsilver had all the power of celestial bronze with a quarter of the weight and three times the rarity. The rarity came from the process of turning normal silver ore into moonsilver ore. Pure silver ore had to be mined under a blue moon and then exposed to the full moon for three months before it could be forged into bars without exposing it to even the smallest amount of sunlight. If the moon was not completely full when it was mined or if it was exposed to sunlight at all, you would be left with plain silver and a lot of lost time.

He covered his mouth as he yawned, _I'll figure it out later. Knowing our luck, this isn't over by a long shot._

He closed his eyes and he fell asleep almost instantly. Before he knew it, Artie was watching himself and Jacob sitting on the roof of their house watching a large parade go by in the distance with loud samba music blaring everywhere. They looked down and saw dozens of people dancing and singing while wearing exotic and elaborate costumes making them look like human bird hybrid creatures.

_Ah, Rio during Carnaval_, said a voice next him. _It really is the biggest party in the world._

Artie turned angrily, about to let loose on Leonidas. But he quickly swallowed his anger. This guy looked to be in his early twenties. He was wearing a black Hard Rock Cafe T-shirt and shabby looking jeans that were made to look shabby. On his feet were Greek sandals so yellow they almost glowed. His eyes were hidden behind expensive looking Ray Ban sunglasses. His sun bleached hair was covered by an old tarp hat that was common among the people who worked in the hot sun.

Artie's jaw dropped slightly, "_Tio Apollo? O que você está fazendo aqui?"_

Apollo chuckled, "_Bom te ver também, mas vamos mudar para Inglês. Meu português é um pouco enferrujado."_

"Sorry." said Artie. "I still have think what I say when I speak English."

"No problem." assured Apollo.

"So back to my question, why are you here?"

Apollo raised an eyebrow, "Can't an uncle pop in and say hi to his favorite nephew?"

"I'm your only nephew." Artie reminded him with a smile. As far as gods went, he tended to get along with Apollo the best. Though he still had to remind himself that as harmless as Apollo liked to appear, he could still reduce him to ashes. "No offense, but you guys only tend to show up when you want something."

Apollo shrugged in submission, "Alright you got me there. Yeah, I need a favor or rather your friend Grover needs a favor."

"Grover? I thought he was back at camp."

"He was, but Mr.D needed to send a replacement down south for a satyr that had a rather unpleasant argument with a crocodile."

"So you want me, head down south and help Grover bring a new demigod to Camp Half Blood."

"Not exactly, They should already be in New York by the time you land."

"So I'm just . . . what? Plan B?"

"You could say that. What do you say? Do me a solid?"

Artie sighed as he thought about it. He, though it was mostly Percy and Annabeth, had just helped defuse the bomb that would have sparked World War III. Together they had fought and killed Medusa, escaped becoming chew toys for the Chimera, and escaped the Underworld by the skin of their teeth. All he wanted was to go home, pop in a bad movie, and forget his troubles for a while. Had this been a request from anyone but a god, he would have politely declined. If he did that, then friendly or not, he would offend Apollo which could end badly for him.

_ At least he had the decency to ask nicely_, thought Artie before he said, "Alright, what exactly do I have to do?"

Apollo smiled and handed him a pair of sunglasses, "Here, I know you lost yours."

Artie took the glasses, "Thanks, but exactly do you want me to do? Where can I find Grover?"

Apollo gave him a bright smile. "Don't worry about it. They'll find you."

Artie rolled his eyes. Never a straight answer. "Alright fine, but before you go, can you tell me something."

His uncle flashed him another bright smile, "Shoot."

Artie pointed to his brother, "Was Jacob . . . yours?"

Apollo's smile shrunk slightly and his voice grew more solemn, "Yeah he was. I met your stepmother - - -"

"Mother." Artie corrected firmly.

"Mother," amended Apollo. "I met her a while she sang in a karaoke bar, we hit off and a year later Jacob was born. I doubt I'll ever hear a mortal sing so beautifully for a long time. I know most Brazilians have a passion for music, but she put them to shame."

Artie nodded, "Jacob was the same."

"She always said the same thing." Apollo mused.

_ "Sem música a vida seria um erro."_ Artie whispered sadly. "Without music, life would be a mistake."

"Exactly." agreed Apollo then he looked at his watch. "Well I'd like to stay longer, but you're out of time. Be nice to my little girl."

Artie was about to press him for an answer when he was jerked awake. Like usual, he reached for a knife on his belt as his claws sprung. He shook his head and saw Annabeth with startled look on her face and a paper shopping bag on her lap.

"I guess I should be glad your knives broke in the Underworld." said Annabeth. She put the shopping bag on his lap. "The flight attendant said this was for you. What is it?"

Artie quickly ruffled through it. "Clothes. And something I really needed since we got back." He pulled out a brown loafer.

Annabeth frowned, "How come you get fresh clothes while me and Percy are stuck with what we got from Waterland?"

Artie stood up and looked around for the bathroom, "I'll tell you when I get back."

He entered the bathroom and quickly rushed in to don his new outfit. He emerged a few minutes later and Annabeth saw he had replaced his torn and worn Waterland tank top with a white long sleeve button down shirt. In place of his usual shorts were plain black slacks. His new polished brown loafers sparkled as spun and donned a pair of RayBan sunglasses. He then spun a gray fedora in hands as he brought up to his head.

"Why? You ask." he said. "Cause every girl is crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man."

Artie sat back down and explained his dream to Annabeth. "So when we get back, you and Percy return the bolt while I look for Grover."

"Do you even know where to start?"

Artie produced a ticket from inside his pant pocket. It was to the new Broadway musical, The Sinatra Effect, "I'll always did want to meet Ol' Blue Eyes."

Two hours later they ditched their new reporter and journalist friends and quickly hopped into a taxi. They rode the taxi to the station without a word. Percy explained he would take the bolt himself to Olympus. In case Zeus didn't believe him, Artie and Annabeth could still tell Chiron and the rest of the camp what really happened. Annabeth didn't like it, but she agreed as well as Artie. So they each took a different taxi. Percy would take one to the Empire State Building while Artie took his to Broadway and Annabeth made her way back to Camp Half Blood.

Despite the traffic, Artie's cab made it to Time Square in just as people began filing for the show. He displayed his ticket and he was lead to a balcony high above the stage. He found it strange that he was the only one with a balcony seat which meant he had the whole box to himself. He looked down and saw the seats below him were filled with kids roughly his age, while the rest were occupied by random people wearing their Sunday best.

He judged them to be students from a private school from their clothes. The boys were dark blue suit jackets with a coat of arms on the right breast pocket over light blue collared button down shirts. They had striped ties with the same colors as the coat of arms and the dark blue of their jackets and pants. The girl's uniform had the same colors, gold and blue, but wore skirts and stockings instead of pants. He figured Grover would be among the students and began searching for him. Artie managed to catch sight of his curly brown-hair just as the lights dimmed and the show began.

Though he kept his focus on Grover, Artie couldn't ignore the performance. Though the musical was called the Sinatra Effect, it had nothing to do with the late member of the Ratpack. It told the story of a young man as he traveled the world and all his adventures. Being a musical, he and several characters sang and danced to tell the story, and every single song was that Frank Sinatra was famous for. Currently the main character, aptly named Francis (Frank Sinatra's real name is Francis Albert Sinatra), strolled past through an old New York City. He was speaking with another character whom he complained as he refused to drink coffee from everywhere except one particular street vendor.

"I just don't get it." said Francis in a heavy New York accent. "Coffee is coffee."

"Yeah, but ol' Jerry gets his beans from some farm down in Brazil." said his friend in a similar accent.

"So what makes coffee better than others?" asked Francis.

"What make it better? How do I put it?"

Instantly music began to swell as he began to tap dance and more actors filled the stage, each pretending to stop to buy a cup of coffee and drinking. As his friend danced, Francis followed pretending to avoid the dancing crowd to catch every word of the song.

_Way down among Brazilians_

_Coffee beans grow by the billions_

_So they've got to find those extra cups to fill_

_They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil_

_You can't get cherry soda_

_'Cause they've got to fill that quota_

_And the way things are I'll bet they never will_

_They've got a zillion tons of coffee in Brazil_

_No tea or tomato juice_

_You'll see no potato juice_

_'Cause the planters down in Santos all say, "No, no, no!"_

_The politician's daughter_

_Was accused of drinking water_

_And was fined a great big fifty dollar bill_

_They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil_

Despite his appreciation for the music and performance, Artie quickly lost track of it all. He was aware as the actors performed several more song and dance numbers, but forced himself to focus on Grover in case any monsters appeared and tried to use the dim lighting. He had the advantage of a bird's eye view and excellent night vision, if monster did try anything, they would be dust before they even knew he was there. The only problem would be if the monsters announced their presence and caused a massed panic among the mortals. As confident as he was in his skill with a bow, he wouldn't risk loosing an arrow among a crowd when he didn't which one was a demigod and therefor able to be hurt by celestial bronze. He guessed Grover would sit near the demigod in question, possibly directly to the left or right.

For no particular reason, he directed his gaze to the girl on Grover's left. He guessed she was from somewhere from South America or her parents were. He got an unobstructed view when she turned to whisper something Grover. She had brown eyes that reminded him of velvet chocolate. Her thick, wavy, black hair was medium-length that ended just above her shoulder was adorned with a yellow barret. She reminded him of the Hunters with her athletic build, tanned skin, and apparent lack of make-up. He guessed she was close to his age, maybe a year younger or older.

He shook his head, _Focus! it just as easily be the kid on Grover's right._

But he couldn't help it. He tried to examine the other students, but his gaze just kept returning to the girl. He was willing to admit she was cute, but not like the daughters of Aphrodite. This girl was more naturally good looking when compared to them as he found them to wear too much make up and try to hard to look good. Despite the feeling in his gut, there just was no way to physically see if she was a demigod. He continued to watch for anything out of the ordinary. His heart skipped a beat when several of them took out cellphones and began tapping on the keys, texting he guessed. If there was a demigod down there, then she or he was about to summon every monster in a five block radius.

Grover didn't seem to notice, then again several were concealing it and the only reason he could see it was because he had a bird's eye view. Artie drew an arrow from his quiver and prepared to open his bow the second something came. Several minutes passed as they continued tapping the keys making sure to keep the phones hidden. Artie sniffed the air several times and was relieved that he smelled no monsters. He sat back down and turned his attention to the performance. It was nearly over and once it was, he could confront Grover and he would tell him which student was the possible demigod.


	16. The Fates Get Bored

Artie was becoming impatient. The show was beginning to drag on for him, or could be his ADHD acting up. Either way, he wished the show would wrap up. He looked down again and surveyed the crowd again. He made sure to glance down every few minutes or so, just in case. Artie sighed as saw there was no change, everything was the same as it had been an hour ago. He returned his attention back to the stage where another musical number was coming on.

Francis had begun speaking with his friend Jerry. Jerry was explaining how he grew up in Chicago and moved to New York for a job, but was still homesick for his city. Francis apparently was too depressed about his high school sweetheart leaving him for a well known gangster to hear him completely. Jerry then invited him to come with him to Chicago, since he had been meaning to go back for the holidays, to get his mind off of his troubles.

"I don't know Jerry." said Frank. "What do you got there that we don't got here?"

Jerry folded his arms, "Nothing. What we got here, we got there."

"Then whats so good about it?"

Then, like the other times before, the music began to swell as the stage began to fill with dancers. Jerry began to dance and lead Francis across the stage as the background changed from New York to Chicago. As he lead him, Jerry sang another Frank Sinatra classic.

_Chicago, Chicago, that toddlin' town._

_Chicago, Chicago, I will show you around._

_Bet your bottom dollar you'll lose the blues in Chicago, Chicago._

_The town that Billy Sunday couldn't shut down._

_On State Street, that great street, I'd just want to say -_

_They do things they don't do on Broadway._

_They have the time, the time of their life._

_I saw a man, he danced with his wife._

_In Chicago, Chicago, my home town._

Artie bobbed his head along with the music. He guessed the show was close to over, provided the show would proceed like he thought it would. He assumed that Francis would fall in love with a girl he met while in Jerry's hometown and sing a version of My Kind Of Town. Then he would announce that he would return to New York to get married and thus end the show with Sinatra's most famous song, New York New York. It was a predictable ending, or so he thought.

Francis had just proposed to his love interest, Martha he remembered, was about to burst into song when a loud AROOF drowned out his words and caused him to break character.

"What the heck was - - -" Francis began to say when the source materialized on stage next to him.

It was unmistakably, to someone who knew their dog breeds, a very large black mastiff with glowing red eyes. Unlike the one that attacked Percy back a camp which was the size of a small rhino, this one was the size of a large grizzly bear. Artie knew size of grizzly bears from first hand experience, some good and some bad.

"_Maldição!"_ he cursed as he opened his bow and took aim.

Like Chiron had taught him, he kept both eyes open as he aimed for the hellhound's left eye. He instinctively used the tip of the arrowhead to aim and raised it a hair's breath higher to compensate for the dip gravity caused when an arrow flew from the bow. He did not hold his breath, but rather waited till he exhaled before he fired.

Against all odds, someone screamed just as he released the arrow causing him to jerk in surprise. Rather than turn the hellhound into a large pile of dust, the arrow simply flew just under its chin and clipped a few hair as it buried itself in the stage floor. The hellhound looked up, saw where Artie had fired from, and growled as it tensed to pounced. It never got the chance. The second Artie drew and fired another arrow, this one exploded mid air into three small arrows, one of which landed in the hellhound's left ear. He smiled when it exploded into dust and then winced when the screaming and shouting grew louder as everyone tried to run for the nearest exit.

Artie then heard another loud AROOF like the sound of an artillery gun. He turned to the southeast corner and saw another hellhound, this one far larger than the last. He cursed and reached for another, but felt nothing except empty air. In his haste, he had forgotten the drawback to his quiver. It was true he could summon almost any kind of arrow with a near infinite number of gadgets. He could have arrows that exploded into giant nets that were capable of trapping large monsters, as well as other non lethal gadgets, all the way to arrows that stuck his targets and either pumped them full of electricity or exploded after a few seconds. He had only think what he needed and he had it, but with a major limitation. The quiver required time to cool down, as he liked to think. If he stayed with basic celestial bronze tipped arrows, he could have as many as he could fire. But if he used a trick arrow, like the ones he used on Medusa, he would have to wait before he could use another one. And the more complicated the gadget, the longer he would have to wait.

Luckily for him the second hellhound barked again and began sniffing the floor as if searching for a particular scent. He reached for an arrow again and was grateful the cool down time was over. He quickly took aim so as not to waste the opportunity from whatever had gotten the monster's attention had created and fired. No sooner than he had fired, something caught the corner of his eye.

He ducked in time to see a spear land on the wall right where his head was a moment ago. He instantly looked down and saw what had thrown at him. He didn't know what she was, but he knew she was not friendly. From the waist up she looked normal, well as normal one could look like with green scaley skin and eyes like a reptile. From the waist down however, she had twin serpent trunks instead of legs. She hefted a large weighted net as she drew her arm back to throw it.

"_Merda_!", Artie cursed as he drew another arrow and aimed in the new monster's direction.

This time he did not have to fire as something much larger hurled towards him out of the corner of his eye. He dropped to the floor with a snarl. This was becoming ridiculous. The fates were clearly bored and when they grew bored, people and demigods tended to die after jumping through various and dangerous hoops for their amusement. He peaked his head over the banister just enough to get a view of what was chucking chairs like a bad cursed under his breath again. On the far side, hefting another chair, was cyclops. Like he had seen before this was a typical cyclops, a one-eyed giant with enough power to hurl cars, or in this case chairs that were bolted to the ground. He now saw he was joined by the hellhound who was wondering what exactly he was aiming for, possibly the interesting scent that had brought him here.

Artie briefly considered trying to fight his way out, but decided against it. He did not have to worry about the mortals since they all had fled outside while he unintentionally occupied the monster's attention. And he was sure that something was calling all the monster to this one location. If that was true, he couldn't fight them all. He had to get out of there before they all got wise and attacked him all together. He ducked back down as another chair exploded against the wall and began crawling towards the door. He figured the more intelligent monsters would guess what he had done, but once out he could stand and crawled as quickly as he could and entered the hallway. From what he could hear, people were still inside. They were of course still screaming and stampeding towards the front lobby, all while a fire alarm blared loudly.

He quickly ran down the stairs and found people pushing and shoving trying get through the front door to the rest of the city. He could just make out a couple of cars that had crashed with a couple of taxis which blocked most of the street and it being New York, a chorus of honking car horns mixed with police and fire truck sirens.

Artie winced at the noise as he tried to think of a plan. _The front door isn't an option. And I'd have go through the stage, along with whatever is still there, to find a backdoor . . . Would someone please kill the fire alarm - - - That's it! _

Artie quickly looked around and saw it. Someone had the same idea. At the very end of the hall opposite of him, half hidden by an elderly couple, was a fire exit. He quickly ran to it and found it had been left ajar, he guessed this was the source of the fire alarm. He walked and took two steps before he felt his foot slip on something and he fell forward.

"_É claro. . . por que não_?" he grumbled as he stood up and looked to see what he had slipped on.

It was green rastacap. He picked it up and brushed off some of the dirt. It felt warm in his hands, as if someone had just been wearing it. He was about to toss it away when he remembered Grover often wore one when he had to pass for human. He held it up to his nose and sniffed. It was a masked by the scent of rotting garbage which was heavy in the air, but it had the unmistakable scent of goat. He sniffed it again before he looked around the alley the door had lead him to.

_Now, which way did you go?,_ Artie asked himself as he sniffed the air, trying to get Grover's trail.

He smiled and ran to the end of the alley. He brought the cap to his nose again before sniffing the air to his left and right. He ran to his left as fast as could without running into people. Several times he lost Grover's trail, mostly due to something covering up his scent like an open sewer or a bakery baking fresh cinnamon rolls. Had this been in the wild, he would simply follow Grover's prints or look for broken branches. Here he backtracked until he picked his scent again. His search lasted about an hour when he entered another alley. From the scent, either Grover was here or he had just missed him. He advanced forward carefully, just in case Grover was hiding under something.

He was halfway down the alley when he heard a soft _clop _followed by a faint _woosh_. Without time to turn, Artie instinctively rolled forward. As he did as heard a loud crumpled _bang _as something metallic stuck the dumpster on his right. Quick as he could, he turned and slashed with his claws.

His claw stopped a hairsbreadth from his attacker's face. "Grover?"

Grover dropped an old worn baseball bat. "Artie?"

"_Obviamente, a sua me_ - - - Sorry, yeah its me."

"What are you doing here? I thought you were with Percy and Annabeth went to the Underworld. You know, taking back the bolt from Hades."

"We did, well kinda. Look I'll explain later. Apollo sent me to help you. Said Mr.D sent you south to replace a satyr, something about an argument with a crocodile."

Grover shuddered. "_Blaa-ha-ha_ . . . I hate the Everglades. Yeah Mr.D sent to me Miami. To Nuestra Señora de Fátima. A catholic school with very famous music program. That's why we were here. It was an end of school field trip."

Artie cocked his head. "We?"

Grover nodded. "I am a protector, remember? I was supposed to escort Apollonia to camp. I figured we would have an easy time once we got to New York, of course with my luck . . ."

Artie cocked his head at the name. "Apollonia? That name . . ."

Grover bleated again as he remembered, "_Di immortales !, _I almost forgot about her."

"No big deal" Artie assured. "She's hiding somewhere here right?"

Grover pointed behind a pile of crates next to the newly dented dumpster. "I think she's over there. I knew something was following us, but I didn't know it was you so I told her to hide. How did you find us anyway?"

Artie handed him the rastacap. "How does that commercial go? Follow your nose wherever it goes?"

Grover fit the cap on his head. "Thanks. Now we should get out here."

Artie nodded. "Sure. Get her out here."

Grover walked behind the crates and found nothing. "She not here!" Grover began searching in panic. "Apollonia! its safe . . . Apollonia! where are you?"

Artie rolled his eyes and began looking around the missing demigod. "We don't have time for this."

"I know, I know." said Grover.

Artie went behind the the crates and sniffed the air around them. He could smell the faintest trace of perfume mixed with rotting wood and fruit. He doubted he could find her the way he found Grover. The perfume wouldn't help, it was just to faint and it would be lost the second something stronger came into the air. He grumbled to himself and straightened. As he did, he heard the sound of someone picking up the bat Grover dropped. He ignored it, no doubt Grover thought he'd better arm himself. Then he felt a presence behind him quickly followed by _woosh_.

Like before, he rolled forward and in the blink of an eye, he reached behind him and grabbed his attacker then pushed her against the wall with a snarl. The bat clattered to the ground as he saw it was the girl that was sitting next to Grover during the musical. She was clearly scared from the look on her face, fighting tears and begging in rapid Spanish.

"_Oh dios_!" She yelped. "_Por favor no me hagas daño. . . Pensé que estabas con ellos . . . por favor._"

Artie sighed as she continued begging. "_No voy a hacerte daño_" he said in perfect spainsh. "_Soy un aliado_"

She instantly calmed down and looked at him with pleading eyes. "_Hablas español?"_

He let her go and stepped back. "Grover! I think I found her."

He watched her dust off her uniform and watch him cautiously when Grover ran up to them, "Apollonia it's you!"

"Grover!" she exclaimed and hugged him tightly.

"You found her." said Grover.

"She found me." Artie corrected. "Nearly took my head off with that bat of yours."

She let go of Grover and stood slightly behind him. "_Quién es el_?"

"Um . . . uh . . . I don't" Grover stammered. Clearly he did not speak Spanish.

Artie rolled his eyes impatiently. "_Como le he dicho que soy un amigo_."

Grover looked at him. "You speak Spanish?" Artie nodded. "Since when?"

"Grover." he sighed, eager to be off. "In case you never thought about it before, Brazil is the only country that speaks Portuguese in South America. The rest speak Spanish along with the rest of central america. I spent most of my time speaking spainsh when I was running around."

"He's right." said Apollonia.

"You speak English." noticed Artie.

She nodded uneasy, "Sorry about that. I . . . uh . . . "

"Revert to your first language when you're upset or freak out." Artie finished for her. "I do the same thing, don't worry about it."

She nodded." Yeah, that."

Artie looked at Grover, "So any plans to get out of here?"

"Not sure." he admitted. "Give me a minute to figure something out."

Artie rolled his eyes again, Alright but take all day. I don't know what called all those monster. But If I could find you, then its only a matter of ti Arraaaggghhh!"

It was as if a line of fire erupted across his back, from just below to his left shoulder blade to his right hip. He was vaguely aware of the sound of his blood splashing across the wall and floor. The pain obliterated all thought as it forced him to his knees and then to the floor. All he was aware of was the agony as blood ran down the small of his back. Despite the hot weather, his blood felt warm against his skin.

Though his heart pounded loudly in his head he heard Apollonia scream, thought it sounded far away. He struggled to move, but he managed to look up and see Grover begin to play on his reed pipes in front a very large hellhound. The hellhound hesitated for a second before shaking his head. Grovered continued to play franticly, his fingers blured over notes as he and Apollina stepped back until they were against the wall. The hellhound snapped his jaws at Grover and managed to crush his reed pipes with his powerful jaws and teeth. Grover managed a yelp before it swiped it's massive paw, sending him flying into a dumpter. It was not enough to knock him unconscious, but it was enoguh to stun him severely. Then the hellhound began to advance slowly towards Apollina who held out the bat in her trembling hands.

Anger swelled within Artie. He did not travel all the way to Underworld, fighting and nearly killed by monsters and gods alike, and back to die on the floor of an alley. If he had anything to do with it, he would die after killing the monster that ruined his life. He would not be denied, especially by some overgrown spoiled alpha male wanna be puppy.

_Not today . . . not here_, he thought to himself as he pushed himself to his feet.

He reached for an arrow, ignoring his back silently screaming in protest, and opened his bow. Like the countless times at camp, He raised the bow above his head as he nocked the arrow. He took a deep breath as brought down the bow while pulling back the string. Once the string was pulled back all the way, the shaft of the arrow between his nose and upper lip , he held it.

"Hey!" he shouted hoarsely. "

The hellhound turned to see he was still alive. It growled as it turned to face him. Artie saw it tense a half second before it pounced. He waited until it was on less then five feet away before he loosed the arrow straight into its mouth. The hellhound burst into gold dust mid air and was quickly swept away by a light breeze. Artie dropped to his knees as Apollonia and Grover ran to him.

Grover bent down and caught him before he fell to the floor, "Oh my gods Artie. You're hurt."

Artie chuckled despite the pain, "Dr. Obvious will see you now."

"We have to get you to a hospital." cried Apollonia as she took out a pink cellphone from a pocket. "I'll call 911"

Artie's eyes widened and he snatched the phone from her hands. "_Não faça isso_!" he croaked before crushing the phone.

Before she could protest, Grover brought up Artie and supported him on his shoulder. "Uhg, Forget about the phone. We need to get out of here, we're not safe here."

Artie pointed to the end of the alley, opposite where he had entered. Grover followed his finger and saw it. It was an old looking motorcycle with a sidecar. As his vision began to blur around the edges and he began to gre cold, Artie was reminded of several old black and white movies he owned. From those movies he had learned there was a reason sidecars were rare. It was because Without a brake on the sidecar's wheels, the sidecar would pull towards the bike while braking, and towards the sidecar during acceleration. This meant that If the sidecar and bike were not coordinated properly, the machine would be unstable, especially at high speeds. Still it was thier only option, short of stealing a full size car which would be problematic with all the police and ambulances causing tons of traffic congestion. The bike would at least be able to weave in and out between cars, thus allowing them to keep moving and not risk being ambushed by more monsters.

Grover helping Artie into the sidecar when Apollonia asked. "Do you know how to drive one of these?"

Grover nodded uneasily, "I think so."

"You think?"

"It's not like we have a choice." Grover motioned Artie who was struggling to stay awake. "We need to leave now before he loses too much blood."

She checked Artie's back. "He's lost alot already. How far do we need to go?"

"Long Island."

"That's too far." she said. "He won't make it. Unless . . ."

She quickly and gently slipped Artie's blood dyed shirt off so he was bare chested. She then bent over him and fumbled with the buckle of his belt, her fingers slick with his blood. Once unbuckled, she pulled his belt off making sure not to move him too much.

"I don't know . . . kind of guy you think . . . I am," Artie said with a faint smile, delirious from blood loss. "But you should . . . at least buy me . . . dinner."

She smiled at his joke, but didn't answer. She tore his shirt in two and then laid the pieces over one another before folding them into large rectangle. She laid the rectangle over the wound and pressed it into the wound, ignoring Artie's groans, before she wrapped the belt over it and tightened as hard as she could without restricting Artie's breathing. She fit the only helmet over Artie's head. In the likely event he passed out and leaned against the front of the sidecar, he would not bang it whenever they went over potholes and bumps. She stepped back and admired her handiwork for a second.

Apollonia wiped the sweat from her forehead, "That should stop the bleeding, for a little while at least. Wherever we're going, we need to get there fast."

Grover nodded as he kick started the bike. The motor roared to life and Apollonia climbed into the seat behind Grover, wrapping both arms around his waist tightly. Grover revved the engine twice to get the motor going, before he released the brake and kickstand.

As they sped down towards the street and headed for the Williamsburg bridge in the distance. It was only once they were halfway across the bridge did Artie finally lost the battle to stay awake, his last thought echoing in his head.

_Not today . . . not here . . . Not while IT'S out there . . ._


	17. It Can Wait    Until Tommorrow

The first thing Artie was aware of, was the sweet taste in his mouth. It took him a moment to remember, for it he had only had three times as a child, but he was sure. It was his favorite and that of his brother, the perfect drink in the hot summer at the beach. It consisted of very strong coffee with melted chocolate mixed with milk with some sugar added to sweeten the mixture. Then the mixture would be augmented with copious amount of Coca-Cola. Once properly chilled and served, one could have it garnished with whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

_Chocolate Coca com gelo?,_ Artie thought to himself after a moment._ It couldn't be . . . They don't have it here._

He then slowly turned his attention to his other senses. His sense of touch told him he was laying on a bed, soft as a cloud, with a warm blanket draped over him. It also told him that he was bare chested except for the bandages wrapped around him, with a thick amount on his back. He did not feel cold, but a line from below left his shoulder blade to just above his right hip felt uncomfortably warm compared to the rest of his body, as if he had suffered a really serious burn.

His ears picked strange sounds very near him. He listened carefully for a moment and recognized it as either faint snoring or a cat purring contently. So either someone was sleeping near him, possibly in a bed next to his, or it was simply a house cat that had found a relaxing spot for a nap. Another sound was there as well. It came a regular intervals, every half minute or so he guessed. He had spent enough time with Annabeth to know it was the sound of a page being turned. So there were two people with him, one was sleeping while the other read a book or something like it.

His sensitive nose detected several scents in the air around him. He quickly recognized the scent of freshly washed bed linens before he identified the rest. The scent was vaguely familiar to him, but he seemed to have trouble placing where. It took him a moment to realized it was perfume. It wasn't overly strong or sweet, but relaxing as if it was made not capture notice. It was subtle, gentle and with the faintest hint of spice. However, it was the third and final scent that captured his full attention. It was the faint smell of freshly washed and groomed horses, but with a hint of coffee.

_Horses and coffee . . . Why is that so familiar?_

It was then when Artie finally managed to open his eyes. Like he thought, he was laying on a bed with a warm blanket draped over him. He gave his surroundings a quick glance and found that he was in the infirmry. He had spent enough time recovering from countless wounds to be sure of that. There were several four poster beds lined against the wall with a window in between each bed to allow natural light to fill the room. He saw, like any normal day, single potted flowers sat on each windowsill, courtesy of the Demeter campers and satyrs.

"Morning Artie." greeted a voice to his immediate left.

Artie twisted to his left and instantly regretted it. A groan escaped from between his gritted teeth. It was as if something hot had just touched his back then immediately cooled with ice water. The sensation left him light headed and he fought the urge to pass out.

Chiron set down the novel he was reading at the foot of Artie's bed, "I wouldn't try to move too much, your fever only broke last night."

Artie's heart pounded in his ears as he slowly moved to face Chiron. He still had his thinning brown hair, bushy eyebrows, intense brown eyes and a scruffy beard. Though instead of his collared shirt and tweed jacket, he wore a shirt that read #1 CENTAUR. The rest of him was compacted in his wheelchair.

A spike of pain shot through his head. "Ah . . . Chiron? What . . . what happened?"

Chiron held a finger to his lips, the universal sign to quiet down. "Not so loud, you'll wake her."

Artie struggled to look behind him without moving too much. He managed to see a girl sleeping on a couch. She was using an arm as pillow and had light blanket draped over her. He watched as she snored lightly, realizing it was Apollonia.

"You should thank her when you get the chance." Chiron suggested. "If it wasn't for her, you would have far too much blood. She's hardly left your side these past two days."

"Two days?" Artie half shouted.

Apollonia stirred slightly before she resumed snoring lightly. Chiron adjusted her blanket as he motioned for him to lower his voice. "Yes two days. It was to be expected, given the amount of blood you lost. You're lucky the hellhound's claw did not go any deeper. Otherwise I'd have to find you your own chair."

"If I've been here two days . . . then what happened with Percy and Annabeth."

"Annabeth is fine." Chiron assured. "She arrived two days ago and told me and Mr.D everything that had transpired, including your last minute quest given to you by Lord Apollo. Percy arrived yesterday, alive and safe. I'm afriad you missed the celebration. Although considering the circumstances, I didn't think you'd mind."

Artie allowed Chiron to cut away the bandages and inspect his back. "Is it that bad, sir?"

Chiron answered with a smile,"Looks like it's pretty hairy."

"And here I thought you hadn't seen Dr. Strangelove."

Chiron chuckled, "Not until recently. I hope you don't mind, but I borrowed a couple of your DVDs. It get dreadfully boring sometimes."

Artie smiled, "Not at all. So how does it look?"

Chiron gave the wound a critical glance, "Impressive, very impressive."

"Well I'm glad you approve, but I'd still like to know."

"Know?" Then Chiron. "Oh yes. You'll be fine, so as long you don't overexert yourself. I was merely impressed in which she treated your wounds."

"She?" Artie asked.

Chiron nodded and then motioned to the sleeping Apollonia. "I was on the other side of the camp when she and Grover arrived with you in tow. You were in serious need of attention. The campers wanted to wait until I arrived, but she convinced them otherwise. Well threatened them to be more accurate, anyway she had them bring her medical supplies. She cleaned out your back with nectar and was in the midst of stitching when I arrived. It was only once she dabbed on a salve and fresh bandages that I carried you here to recover properly. It was also her that suggested we give you an IV of nectar, since you were not as far along as we hoped."

Artie looked on his right arm and noticed the needle in his arm with a tube running up to a plastic bag filled with an amber liquid. The bag was suspended from a crude bronze stand that leaned slightly to the left. As he followed the tubing, he saw a small chamber of glass that connected the tubing in his arm to the bag. Every now and then, a drop would drip down in a small pool in the bottom of the chamber. Artie guessed that was the source of the sweet taste in his mouth.

Chiron followed his gaze. "I'm afraid it was made rather quickly so the craftsmanship suffered slightly, though I've been told the drip chamber is up to standard. Still I doubt any of her siblings could have done such a fine job as she did. She'll make a fine addition to cabin seven."

"Cabin seven?" Artie asked then shook his head at his question. "I should have figured. _Apollo _sent me to find her. I found her at a _musical _and her name is _Apollonia._

Chiron nodded. "She was claimed the second she set up the IV, though she was to preoccupied with you to give it any thought. Once you were stable, I explained as best as I could. She was a little skeptical at first, but she seemed to come to accept she was a demigod. I'll leave it to you to show her around and where she'll stay.

"Its the least I could do." said Artie.

A conch horn blew in the distance and Chiron looked out the window. "That would be breakfast. I'll have someone send something down for you. You must be quite hungry."

Artie watched as Chiron turned his wheelchair and left, closing the door behind him. The conch horn rang again and Apollonia began to stir. She yawned and stretched underneath the blanket. She opened her eyes slowly and looked around as if trying to recall how she had gotten there. Then her gaze fell on Artie, who quickly snatched his sunglasses off the nightstand next to his bed.

"Good morning, Vietnam!" said Artie with a smile.

She stopped rubbing eyes to give him a confused a look. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

Artie smiled grew, "I don't know, I guess it means good morning, Vietnam. "

Apollonia smiled back slyly, "And who gave him permission to play modern music? "

Artie raised an eyebrow, impressed as he thought to himself. _Good at treating injuries, cute, and seems to like movies. . . . I'm starting to like her._

"So how do you feel?" she asked with concerned eyes.

"Better than I should be, thanks to you." He grunted as he adjusted on the bed.

She quickly and carefully hugged him. Artie was stunned, both by the sudden embrace and the intoxicating aroma of her perfume. "Thank you."

"I . . . uh . . . um . . ." was all he could muster.

"If it wasn't for you . . . I wouldn't . . ." she said, her voice surprisingly emotional. "I wouldn't . . . I wouldn't be alive."

"I'm not interrupting something am I?" asked a voice, sounding somewhat amused.

Apollonia quickly withdrew, looking slightly embarrassed, allowing Artie to see Silena Beauregard, head counselor of the Aphrodite cabin. She was wearing a pink Camp Half Blood shirt and jeans. Like every one of her siblings, she was very beautiful which was very apparent with her perfect hair and make-up. She also had the same overbearing scent around her as the others, which Artie at best could describe as a overly sweet and spicy. She held two platters in her hands which were piled high with eggs, bacon, ham steaks, and even small stacks of pancakes.

Silena handed the platters to Artie and Apollonia, "Chiron said you two would need this."

Artie took a platter from her, "Thanks Silena."

Silena wordlessly handed Apollonia a platter. She looked at her then at Artie and smiled. She looked amused by what she saw, as if trying not to laugh at a hidden joke. Artie wondered about it, but remained quiet.

She quietly chuckled to herself as she walked out. She stopped at the doorway and turned around to face them. "Welcome back Artie. Get better soon." She winked and strode out.

"Who was that?" asked Apollonia after they had almost finished their breakfast.

"Silena Beauregard." said Artie. "She the head counselor of cabin ten."

"Cabin ten?"

Artie nodded. "Yeah. All the campers are divided into different cabins from one to twelve." Artie began to sit up, ignoring his discomfort. "Here, I'll show you around."

Apollonia rushed to his side, "You don't have to. You're still recovering."

Artie forced a smile, "I'll be fine. I've been through worse."

"Are you sure? I mean if you don't have to if you don't want to."

"I'm sure. Plus I don't like sitting in one place for too long. Come on."

Apollonia looked like she wanted to protest, but decided against it. Still she she helped where she could, either helping Artie with the straps of his sandals or handing him a green tank top that laid on a chair next to his bed. Artie lead her outside, allowing her to stay close should he require someone to catch him if he passed out again.

From there they made their way around the camp. Breakfast had just finished and all the campers were heading to the day's activities. They picked their way around the crowd and arrived at the Strawberry Fields where the satyrs were just beginning to play on their flutes. Artie even saw Castor and Pollux, the twin sons of Mr.D, helping out here and there.

Apollonia seemed to amazed by the satyrs. "_Oh, Dios mío ¿qué son_?"

Artie understood her amazement, he had a similar reaction. "They're called satyrs. They have the upper body of a human and the lower body of a goat. They divide their time between tending the fields here,which produce perfectly ripe fruit year round, and scouting schools."

"Scouting schools?" she asked. "I think someone would have noticed if a . . .uh . . . satyr was in a school."

Artie smiled, "Grover got passed you, didn't he?"

She was astounded for a moment "Grover's a satyr!"

Artie nodded, "Why do you think he's always wearing some sort of hat or cap? It's to hide his horns. Percy also told me that he lied about a bone disease in his legs."

"Yeah he said the same thing to me when we met. Got him out of gym, though it was the end of year so it didn't really matter."

"Its so he doesn't he have to change his clothes for gym. Also I'm sure the Mist helps too."

"The Mist?"

Artie began leading her away from the fields, "Come on, we have a lot more to see. I'll explain along the way."

Artie did his best to answer Apollonia questions, which never seemed to end. He explained how the Mist was a supernatural force that twists a mortal's sight from seeing supernatural occurrences by replacing them with things the mortal mind can comprehend. He also explained how the gods moved with the heart of the west which started in ancient Greece. Artie was surprised by how well she seemed to be taking it, then again she had two days to cope with what she had learned. He had a hard time believing it himself at first, but it made perfect sense when he thought about what he had seen in South America. They reached the Pegasus stables and saw several members of Silena's cabin riding several of them in the air. He continue to show her everything from the archery range to amphitheater.

As they walked, Artie couldn't help being curious about Apollonia. His curiosity was sated when she began making small talk. He learned she had been born in Mexico City, but she and her moved to the Miami when she was three. Her mother, Maria Moreno, soon became the head nurse in a local hospital where she met Apollonia's father. Bruno Sonota was originally from Uruguay, but had moved to the states to be with his family. They eventually married several months later.

"So you never met your father?" Artie asked.

"Of course I've met him."

His eyes grew wide. "Really?"

She raised an eyebrow. "He's lived with us since I was four. Kinda hard to live with someone for ten years and never meet him."

"Oh." said Artie understanding what she meant. "You mean your stepfather."

"No." She folded her arms. "I mean my father. If you mean the 'god' who ran out on my mom, then yeah I never met him and I don't want to."

_ Can't imagine Apollo is too happy about that, then again he's probably used to it by now_. Artie scratched his chin, "Did anyone explain what being claimed means to you?"

"Not really. A heard some of the others say something about being claimed. Does that have something to do with the glowing musical note that floated over my head while I was treating you?"

"Yeah. That musical note was your father's way of claiming you as his daughter." A thought came to him. "Do you know your father is?"

"I just told you." she reminded him. "Its Brun - -"

"Not him." he interrupted. "Your other father."

She frowned, "No. I never got the chance to ask anyone."

He looked at the descending sun and guessed it to be late afternoon. Dinner was an hour or two away. He needed to talk Beckendorf about his armor problem, but he still had to show Apollonia the cabins. He found that strange. Normally he wouldn't even think about giving new campers the tour of camp, the endless predictable questions were enough to drive one mad. Still he found being around her pleasant and wished they had more time together.

_ I'll talk to Beckondorf some other time_, Artie took her hand. "Come on follow me. We still have one more thing to see."

He lead her farther east until they reached the twelve cabins. Despite living at camp for two years, Artie still was amazed by bizarre designs of the cabins. Whether it was how his cabin glowed a silvery sheen at night or how cabin seven shone so bright during the day he couldn't look at it directly for too long. Apollonia seemed to be even more impressed. He lead her along the male god side and explained how each cabin was meant to depict a certain god.

"Like a mascot." she said.

"Pretty much, though I'm sure they prefer patron over mascot." Artie said with a smile. "You said you didn't know who your father is so I'm gonna introduce you to some who might know him. Plus I think it might be nice to get know your brothers and sisters."

"I'm an only child." She told him.

"Not for much longer." he said. "You'll see what I mean."

They stopped in front of Cabin Seven, the Apollo cabin. There were a few campers sitting on the porch strumming their guitars and lyres. Some were writing on note pads as they hummed melodies or muttered words as if trying to see which sounded better. Artie whistled and they looked down to see him. He wasn't surprised they frowned at his presence and wasn't even upset when one of them walked down to meet them. Artie saw it was Gene O'Connor and he did not looked pleased to see him.

"Hey Sonny, what do you want? Here to finish off Jason?" He sneered.

Artie held back a retort, "No Gene, I was showing a new comer around."

Gene gave Apollonia a quick glance before turning back to Artie. "Regular or undetermined?"

Artie stepped aside and introduced them. "Apollonia this is Gene. Gene this is Apollonia. She was just claimed by your dad yesterday. She said she wanted to know more about her dad so I figured one you could do a better job than me."

Gene shook her hand and gave her a warm smile. "Welcome to Cabin Seven. So your name is Apollonia? Well dad does have his moments." He put an arm around her shoulder and began to lead her towards the cabin. "Come on, let me introduce you to the family."

She looked back at Artie who waved. "Feel free to visit. I'll be in cabin eight if you need me."

She smiled and mouthed, _Thank you_.

Artie walked back to his cabin. As he did, Tobias swooped down and landed on roof. Artie smiled and held the door for Tobias to fly and perch on a branch that protruded from the wall. Before heading to his bunk, Artie threw a couple of logs in the stone fire place and lit them. Soon the cabin began feel much warmer and cozy, which always made him feel drowsy with sleep. He decided to forgo dinner and sleep which he did after slipping his shirt off, doing his best not stretch his back too much. As he drifted off to sleep, he couldn't help thinking about the new addition to cabin seven.

The last thing he saw before sleep took him, was that of Apollonia's smiling face and her intoxicating perfume.


	18. A Step Forward

Artie awoke the next day feeling surprisingly well rested. His back still ached, but not unbearably so along with the rest his body, no doubt the quest was catching up with him. As was his habit whenever he awoke, he examined his surroundings. The bunks were all in the same place they had been the previous night and undisturbed. The walls were decorated with various animals skins and various kinds of bows and quivers filled with arrows hanging off various protruding the fireplace was a stuffed deer's head, but he knew it was not a common deer. It was the head of his mother's sacred animal, the Ceryneian Hind. It was a large deer with golden antlers like a stag and hooves of bronze and the same deer that pulled her chariot. With the hand stitched bearskin rug in front of the stone fire place, the whole cabin gave the illusion of a cabin lodge one would find in the deep forest. Only two things offset the cabin lodge feeling, the first was his DVD collection. It was so large that it took two shelves that went around most of the cabin forming a large 'U'. He had everything from early black and white silent era films to the latest Hollywood blockbuster, with the occasion TV series here and there. The other object was an old look, but still working, vinyl record player that you hand to crank in order to play anything. He had one back in Rio and it had taken only a few golden drachma to convince a child of Hephaestus to fix it after he found in a dumpster during one his rare visits to the city.

Tobias peaked his head from under his wing on his perch. He gave his usual good morning squawk which Artie responded with, "You too."

He stood up from his bed and walked into the bathroom. He always found it amusing that the shower was made of pure rock and shaped to look like exactly like a waterfall. The sink was also made in the same fashion, with a small spout that replaced the faucet and large depression to hold the water. He took an extra long shower, allowing the hot water to run down and sooth his sore muscles and back. He mentally complained to himself to finally get a haircut as he washed it, but decided in the end not to. As he dried it,he had noticed it had begun to acquire gray streaks, though they had a silvery sheen to it. He didn't give it a second thought, other than he was too young to have graying hair and it was probably a trick of the light.

Once dressed in only a pair of denim shorts and a belt with empty knife sheaths, he recovered an espresso mug from a small cupboard in the corner of the cabin and went the espresso machine that sat on a table near the window. He had found it sitting in the very same spot when he moved into the cabin, just after he returned from his quest and learned he was a child of Artemis. He found it added the the cabin lodge aura and he welcomed the smell of freshly brewed espresso made using dark roasted coffee Brazilian coffee beans. He pulled the lever and filled the small mug with espresso. He held the mug under his nose and savored the relaxing aroma as he pulled down the ladder that lead to a trapdoor to the roof. He carefully climbed the ladder and went outside on the roof, making sure to leave the door open so Tobias could fly out and join him.

It was rare for Artie to been seen at breakfast. He preferred to sip his espresso as he leaned against chimney with Tobias perched just over his head and enjoy a moment of peace. Like most demigods, he had dyslexia, but he didn't not have ADHD. He found that helpful, he could not hunt and stalk if he couldn't keep still when the occasion demanded it. That wasn't to say he couldn't keep himself from becoming bored, which happened more often than not.

It was one of those times as he set down the mug, now empty of precious espresso, and removed his pocket watch. It had gained a few scratches and a dent here and there. He admired the design before he twisted the top to wind the watch before pushing it straight into the watch. Like usual, it grew into a shiny polished guitar. He tuned it as he strummed it lightly. He mentally sorted the short list of songs he knew and chose one that suited his mood. He began to play a soft gentle melody he had heard his mother play and sing. It was playful melody, meant to be played during a beautiful day when spirits were high. After a few chords he began to gently sing to himself in his native language.

_Vai, meu irmão,Pega esse avião_

_Você tem razão de correr assim_

_Desse frio, mas beija_

_O meu Rio de Janeiro_

_Antes que um aventureiro_

_Lance mão, Pede perdão_

_Pela duração dessa temporada_

_Mas não diga nada ,Que me viu chorando_

_E pros da pesada,Diz que vou levando_

_Vê como é que anda, Aquela vida à toa_

_E se puder me manda, Uma notícia boa_

His fingers continued to dance along the neck and strings as he strummed. He swayed his head and hummed, allowing him to lose himself in the melody and the memories that came with it. As luck would have it, he had just finished the song and was about to begin again with a new one when a knock came at the front door below him. He leaned over the roof and saw it was Apollonia, wearing an orange Camp Half Blood shirt and jeans instead of her school uniform.

She knocked on the door again. "Artie? Are you in there?"

"Not technically." he called down, accidentally startling her. "But I am here."

She clutched her chest,"_Mis dioses_, don't do that!"

"Sorry about that." he said sincerely. "I'll be right there."

Rather then climbing down the way he came, he walked to the corner and slid down the wall. It was something he often did whenever he did not wish to use the stair and it was the few times he was grateful for his claws. Tobias swooped down and flew inside just as his bare feet touched the ground. He wondered at it, until he faced Apollonia and she yelped with a frightened look. She covered her mouth as if to stop herself from screaming

Artie looked down and saw he was barefoot and shirtless, though he couldn't understand she should be scared of that. He looked behind himself, "What? Is something in the woods?"

She removed a hand from and pointed with a trembling finger, "_Su . . . sus ojos_"

He understood instantly and brought his hands to his face. He felt around his eyes, where he always made sure to wear sunglasses. He wasn't wearing them. "_Oh deuses!_ Don't scream. I-I-I can explain. Just . . . just don't . . . just calm down."

Tobias flew out of the cabin and dropped two things at his feet. Artie scrambled for the tank top and sunglasses. He quickly slipped on the shirt and instantly hid his eyes. The damage was done, but still there were still plenty of others who hadn't seen. No doubt he would have to explain them to her, but it was the least he could do.

"There all better." he said shakily as he adjusted the sunglasses on his face.

"All better?" she demanded, she grabbed his hand and began pulling towards the Big House. "You need to see doctor! How did I miss that?"

Artie politely resisted her pulling and said very calmly, "Apollonia. I'm fine. They've been like this for a while."

She stopped pulling to look at him. "But how can you see? You don't have any pupils! Not even irises!"

He set his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. "I can see just fine." he assured her gently. "Better than most in fact. And in the dark too."

"Are you sure? I mean how is that possible?"

"Breakfast is over right?"

She looked confused by the question and took a moment to respond. "I . . . uh . . . I think so. Why?"

He walked past her and headed west toward the forges. He motioned for her to follow, "Come on, I got something I need to take care of. Its a bit of a walk so I'll explain along the way."

She frowned but nodded and walked with him to forges. Artie still had to speak with Beckondorf about his armor options and how long he would take forging it. Though Artie preferred to leave by the end of summer session, he wasn't about to head off into the wilderness with nothing but the clothes on his back to protect him from injury. He would wait as long it took. He reasoned if it was worth doing, it was worth doing right.

He looked next to him and saw Apollonia was still a little freaked out. He carefully explained what had happened. Normally he would have said Artemis had given him the gift of sharp vision and night vision, but something compelled him to tell her everything. He wasn't sure if it was because he owed her a full explanation or if he was finally tired of carrying the burden for so long. Regardless of the reason, he found himself pouring word on word as if just now acknowledging what had happened to him. She listened without a word, almost as if she knew he needed to vent.

He told her how he had been eight years in Rio when he was attacked and chased all over South and Central America, only managing to enter the United States by stowing away on cruise ship as it headed to Florida from Mexico. He was careful to leave out the death of his mother and brother. Despite his new compulsion, he found that still painful to talk about. His voice cracked several times with emotion, but found it easier as neared the ending.

"Though I didn't know it at the time," he said. "Artemis gave me a new set of eyes. From then on, I could see alot farther and clearer than before. I also learned that as long there was some moonlight, I could see in the dark."

"So they're just a blessing." she said making sure she understood. "A gift from Artemis, your mother."

"She may have claimed me, but she not my mother." Artie said calmly despite the turmoil of emotions. He didn't hate Artemis, but he was still unsure of what to do with what he learned on his quest two years ago.

"But I thought - - -" Apollonia began to say, but she stopped herself. The tone of Artie's voice remind her word yesterday when she said she didn't consider Apollo her father. She was fairly sure Artie felt similar towards Artemis.

They continued walking in silence until they reached the forge. Though Artie had shown her the forge yesterday, she hadn't seen the interior. As they got closer, they both could hear the sound of hammers banging on metal, the crackling of the forge fires, and numerous hisses of steam whenever someone cooled something hot in water. Artie walked in, followed by Apollonia. Of all the demigods at Camp Half Blood, Artie got along the easiest with the children of Hephaestus, well only one child of Hephaestus in particular.t was the same child of Hephaestus that Artie made his way to at the end of the forge, making sure not get in anyone's way as they hammered or smelt red hot ore.

Charles Beckendorf was near impossible to miss as he stood head and shoulders over Artie, despite being only two years older than him. The heat of the forge made his dark ebony skin glisten with sweat as he hammered on a massive red hot sword blade. His shirt was cut off at the sleeves which revealed his muscles that Artie had often heard described as 'like a pro ballplayer'. Artie could see his arms were bare except for the custom dragon skin smelting gloves on his catcher's mitts size hands that Artie had managed to make him before joining Percy on his quest. The gloves seemed to be doing their job as he threw the blade into fire and picked another half finished blade next to it, completely ignoring the various tongs that his siblings were using and hung right over his head.

Only when Beckendorf returned the blade to the fire and began drinking of a hanging waterskin, custom made by Artie to keep the water cold in the heat of the forge, did he approach. "Giving those gloves a workout I see."

Beckendorf wiped his chin and smiled as flexed his hand. "Couldn't ask for a better pair. Nice to see that little puppy didn't play too rough with you."

"That what I wanted to talk to you about."

Beckendorf raised an eyebrow, "You need armor don;t you?"

Artie chuckled, "Is it that obvious?"

Beckendorf chuckled, "I figured it was a matter of time. But you don't want a standard bronze breastplate I take it."

Artie shook his head and explained. He needed armor that was light enough for him carry for long periods of time and to run with. It also could not limit his mobility too much. He also explained he required a full set of armor which included protection to his hands and feet as well as his chest.

Beckendorf scratched his chin as he thought about it. "That's a tall order. Plate is out defiantly out of the question, even the Ares kids complain about the weight."

"My thoughts exactly." said Artie. "Leather is the exact opposite, way too easy for something to get through."

"It might help if I knew what you need the armor for." suggested Beckendorf.

"Hunting." Artie answered. Not a lie, but not exactly the whole truth.

Beckendorf frowned and answered after a minute of thought, "In that case, chain mail isn't the answer either."

"Why not?"

"You can't exactly sneak up anything when jingle like bag of quarters in a bag."

"I hadn't thought about that."

They stood in silence as they considered various possibilities, each more unlikely than the next. Beckendorf and Artie were about to give up when Apollonia spoke up. Artie felt guilty, completely absorbed in thought he had forgotten she was even there.

"What about Kevlar?" she asked innocently.

Beckendorf cocked her head at the word, "Kevlar? You mean what they used for bullets?"

"Is that wrong too?" she asked unsure. "I just thought maybe you guys were thinking too old. Maybe something more modern was invented that your not considering."

"Invented . . ." whispered Beckendorf. "Hmm . . . maybe she could."

Artie was about to asked when Beckendorf walked to the nearest workbench were a girl of about sixteen was because twirling wire around what appeared to be a diamond the size of half dollar. She had short cropped red hair tied that framed her face. Like most of the Hephaestus kids working, her face scratched and sooty from working in the forge. She looked confused as Beckendorf brought her over and introduced her.

"Guys, this is Louise Kwolek." Beckendorf said with a hint of pride.

"Uh, hi." she greeted.

"Artie here needs some armor." Beckendorf explained to her.

"What kind of armor?" she asked Artie. He told her and she smiled. "You're in luck."

She and Beckendorf dragged over a mannequin that wore a strange piece of armor. It reminded him the weaving of a wicker basket with the pattern and color. He ran his hand over it and found it was bronze, slightly warm from the heat of the forge. He lifted off the mannequin and found it surprisingly light for such heavy metal. Though only half as heavy as a standard breastplate, he had an idea to fix that. He slipped it on over his head and saw it bent with his movements like a normal cloth shirt.

Louise beamed with pride, "I got the idea watching naiads weave baskets. The armor bends with the wearer's movements and body."

"How did you make this?" Artie asked as he flexed and stretched to test the armor.

"It was alot harder than you think." said Beckendorf. "Together we made a loom and she weaved several yards of bronze wire."

"Once the main shirt was made." Louise continued. "I reinforced the entire outside with the left over wire. Though there is one problem with it I haven't been able to fix."

"Which is?"

She had Artie put the shirt back on the mannequin. Louise drew a knife and slashed as hard as she could across the belly of the armor. "It works like chain mail, perfect against slashing attacks, but . . ." She turn the knife and buried it to the hilt in the mannequin's chest. "Piercing attacking like stabbing . . . well, you might as well wear a plain t-shirt for the good it'll do."

Beckendorf agreed reluctantly, "And multiple layers won't work either. You have to separate the layers with something. Otherwise constant movement makes the wires rub against each other and too much of that will weaken the armor."

"Plus, even with two layers." added Louise with sigh,"You're back to the weight problem. Which - - -"

"Which defeats the purpose." Artie finished for her. "Will two layers be enough? If you ignore weight problem for now?"

Louise thought about it for a minute, "Ignoring the weight problem, it might be enough. You have to separate the layers anyway. So if you put something sturdy and flexible between them . . . it should be enough, its meant for people who like to move around."

Beckendorf watched his hand as he flexed the glove, "Like piece of rawhide or leather? Its defiantly light enough and very bendable."

"Artie could do that." pipped in Apollonia. "He is the camp's tanner right?"

Artie nodded. "I got plenty of dragon left over from your gloves and Jason's quiver. It might actually help the piercing issue, from long distance arrows anyway."

"The point is moot." said Louise. "There is still the weight issue. And you said you need a full set. If the boots, gloves, and helmet all have two layers then you might as well wear a normal breastplate and save us a lot of metal and time."

"I think I have a solution for that." said Artie. "Exactly how much moonsilver do you guys have in stock?"

"None." answered Beckendorf.

"_Por que não me surpreende?" _Artie rolled his eyes.

"Moonsilver?" asked Louise.

"Its regular silver ore." explained Beckendorf. "Mined under a blue moon and then exposed to the full moon for three months without exposing it to even the smallest amount of sunlight. If done correctly its as hard as celestial bronze but with only a fraction of the weight."

"But if it needs to be mined under a blue moon . . ." said Apollonia.

"Since a blue moon comes once every three years." Artie concluded. "It makes it incredibly rare."

"So rare in fact that we don't even have a pound of it." Beckendorf told them. "I'm sorry Artie. That would actually work especially with the dragon skin between the layers."

"But unless you have two dozen full pounds of the stuff." Louise said apologetically. "You're out of luck."

No sooner than she said that there was a bright flash of light. Everyone in the forge bellowed as they were blinded and dropped heavy object on their feet. Even with his sunglasses, Artie was forced to look away. Once the light had faded and they all had blinked away the dancing spot from their eyes, they saw a large wooden crate with the symbol of Hephaestus stamped in golden paint on the side. On top of the crate were two letters, one addressed to Artie and the other to Louise.

The rest of cabin nine gather around as Louise read the letter aloud. "Dear Louise, Nice job with that new armor. Keep up the good work. As good as Charlie is, I think it does him good to take the backseat once in a while." Several kids laughed at that. "Tell that Artie kid it's not for him, its for you. I never seem to work with the stuff and I need the space it was taking up."

Artie opened his let and found it was from Artemis. The message was short, barely worth the effort and time to write it. Even with his dyslexia, it only took him a minute or two to read it. Once he did, he had to wonder about that last line. Did Artemis sense something between him and Apollonia? He read the letter twice more.

**_Dear Artie,_**

**_Nice to see you've taken a step forward._**

**_Sincerely,_**

**_Artemis._**

**_P.S. - I'll be watching you and that Apollo girl._**

He watched her as she watched several kids open the crate to reveal dozens of moonsilver bars lined in straw, each the symbol of Hepheastus and Artemis. He would admit he had strange feelings toward her, but he wasn't sure what they meant yet. He found her nice and funny as well cute with that look of amazement to the crate of metal. He considered her a good freind, but she was something more. People don;t simply become friends after gooing through what they went through, it was different than his bond with Annabeth. This is was something far different.

She caught him staring. "What?"

He instantly became flustered as he fumbled for words, "I, uh, . . . nothing."

He was saved questions by Louise who hefted a bar and smiling as she could see how the armor would look, "First things first, I'm gonna need your shoe size."

* * *

><p><em>AN - My next chapter should be the end of this story. It should be fairly short since there are a few things I need to wrap up, mainly involving setting up Artie and the rest for the Sea Of Monsters. Once I finish this, I'll be taking a short break. In all honesty I'm found this is be hard, but immensely fun to do and I just can't wait until I start on Titan's Curse and answer alot of unanswered questions as well as show how the Hunters act around Artie when they have to share cabin eight._


	19. Tobias Fills In For Cupid

It was not until the forth of July firework show that Artie understood his mother's words about watching him and Apollonia. For the rest of the summer, he found himself making excuses to be near Apollonia, much to the displeasure to the rest of the Apollo cabin. She didn't seem to mind in the slightest. In fact, she seemed to do the very same herself and often forsaked the company of her cabin, ignoring her sibling's complaining. They would often spend the day in the amphitheater, teaching each other songs they knew. Apollonia would teach him songs from her home country of Mexico, namely Mariachi. He found that he enjoyed it as much as she enjoyed the few Samba songs he taught her. Once Artie could play without stopping which sometimes took most of the day, they would play and sing as their voices and instruments mixed in a rough but passionate blend of cultures. On occasion, Grover or another satyr would join in on their reed pipes.

Every now and then they would practice their archery together. She was a natural archer, like any child of Apollo, but refused to accompany him on any of his hunting trips in the woods. He couldn't blame her, he had nearly thrown up himself when he first learned how to gut and skin a rabbit. He also did not take her to his tanning cave in the woods. Though he had grown used to it, there was a very good reason that even today that any tanning using ancient methods were located far from towns and often downwind of them. Even in the times of ancient Greece, tanning was considered a noxious or odoriferous trade. Still she was impressed what he could make with nothing but a knife and thread, whether is was a simple waterskin or a pair waterproof boots.

Since she was not a year round camper, Louise would have to show Beckendorf how to make the armor, namely the making and weaving of moonsilver wire, in her absence. Artie was disappointed to learn the process wasn't complicated, but it would take a long time to forge the complete set. So much in fact that he might have a single boot by the end of the summer session. Artie was annoyed by this, but reasoned there wasn't anything he could but wait until they finished. He did his best not to dwell on it, which he found surprisingly easy to do.

He had spread a blanket under the only tree was within walking distance of the beach where the Hephaestus cabin would launch the fireworks from an anchored offshore barge. It was somewhat isolated from all the other campers who were directly on the beach. He had seen the show twice before and he knew it was cabin nine, but never got tired of it. He leaned against the tree as he heard Tobias perch on a branch a few feet above his he leaned against the tree and waited for Apollonia to join him, he thought about her offer.

He never exactly lied to her when he told her how he came to Camp Half Blood, he simply left out a few details. One of those details was the death of his mother and brother. He still didn't know how she learned about it, but he found it hard to lie to her. She hadn't exactly confronted him about it nor was she angry with him. But when she told him how it was far better to let it out than to keep such a thing to oneself, he found himself telling her everything he had left out. She listened without comment or question and he did not see her for two days after that. She came to him after dinner on the second day and brought him an offer he found strange. He couldn't tell if she was taking pity on him or if she had ulterior motives, either way he couldn't think of answer and a week already passed. She had not pressed for answer, but he could not put it off forever.

"Don't take this the wrong way." she had said. "But I managed to talk with my mom and dad. If you want, you can stay with us until next summer."

"You're not staying year round." he concluded. He wasn't mad, it was simply a statement of fact.

She shook her head. "It's great here, but I can't stay. We have plenty of room if you're worried about that."

Artie was grateful for her offer, but asked, "Why? Is this because of what I told you?"

Apollonia looked embarrassed as she rubbed her hands and shifted from foot to foot, "The way you talked about . . . I . . . uh . . . I talked to Chiron and he . . ."

"Said something like it might be good for me to spend some time away from camp." Artie guessed. "He would say that."

"You can't say he doesn't care," she said.

_He must know about the armor and why I want it, probably thinks Apollonia will keep me from going stir crazy and doing something stupid._ Artie thought to himself. Then he looked at Apollonia and her pleading eyes._ I wonder exactly what Chiron told her. It couldn't have been something small, she's practically begging me to say yes._

Artie was jerked out his thought as the a breeze blew past him which carried an overly sweet aroma, "Hey Silena."

Silena Beauregard, head counselor of the Aphrodite cabin, came out from behind the tree with his record player in her hands. "One of these days you're gonna have to tell me how you do that."

Artie smiled politely and took the record player from her. "You cleaned it?"

She nodded, "Waiting for Apollonia?"

"How'd you know?"

Silena winked, "I can have secrets too."

Artie set the record player next to him and watched Silena as she went to the beach to join the others. Artie saw that she had left a record on the player. Silena had asked to borrow it a few days ago. He was surprised she knew about and was even more surprised that she had some old records she wanted to listen to. He bent down and saw a record was still on the player. He would have to return it when he got the chance. He saw it was copy of The Temptation's Greatest Hits. He was vaguely familiar with some of the songs, he was sure at least one them had been in several movies, but he was unable to remember it exactly.

Another breeze blew, this one carrying a much more pleasant scent. He was about to say hello when Apollonia asked, "What was that about?"

Artie turned and choked on the words. "It was ju-j-j-j-j-j."

Apollonia was wearing make-up and had done up her hair, which she never did or not since he had met her. Her lips had the perfect shade of red. She had the just right amount of eye liner and mascara. Her long wavy black hair looked like something out of a shampoo commercial as it tumbled past her shoulder. He had learned that she didn't wear perfume and her sweet scent was just that, her natural scent. But now she was clearly wearing it. To be honest he preferred when she didn't, but he wasn't sure how he go about telling her. He had refrained from telling her because he thought she might consider it weird. But if things were going the way he thought they might go which if her make-up was any indication, then she might not mind.

"Something wrong?" she asked as if everything was normal.

Artie shook his head, trying to clear his head. "No. Just . . . uh . . . first time seeing you all . . ."

"Dolled up?" she offered as she twirled a strand of her hair around a finger. "Silena practically begged me to let her. Does it look good? I didn't get a chance to look in a mirror."

"At the risk of getting blasted," said Artie. "Aphrodite herself would be jealous."

She giggled and sat down next to him, half leaning on the tree and him. "This is nice."

Artie smiled as she took his hand in hers. "Wait till the show starts."

They sat together watching the night sky as they waited. Despite the cool night air, Apollonia felt warm against his skin. He fought the urge to giggle as her hair tickled under his chin. He sighed deeply. This was how life was suppose to be. No monsters attacking or running through the wild not knowing whether you would survive to see the morning. He wished it could last forever, but he knew better. Nothing last forever, especially demigods.

A sound came from his left and he saw Tobias. He was cranking the record player with his beak. Once the record began spinning, he carefully lifted the needle and set it on the record. Artie was sure if Tobias could wink, he would have as he flew up and returned to his perch overhead. Instantly the music began to play. The saxophone blended perfectly with the piano as the drums played ever so lightly with a barely audible bass. He smiled as hummed along with it.

_Earth angel, earth angel_

_Will you be mine?_

_My darling dear, love you all the time_

_I'm just a fool, a fool in love with you_

_Earth angel, earth angel_

_The one I adore_

_Love you forever, and ever more_

_I'm just a fool, a fool in love with you_

Apollonia hummed along with him as the fireworks began. Each exploded with a thunderous boom as it brighten the night sky, spiting colors here and there, only to fade and be replaced by another only a moment later. He and Apollonia oohed and awed as they saw several ancient Greek tales came to life in the night sky. They would see all twelve Labors of Hercules which was followed by the greatest feats of Theseus and Perseus. The finale was of course was a mock battle by several hundred foot tall spartan warriors before they exploded into a barrage of colors, but that was still far away.

Somewhere between Hercules fighting Cerberus and chasing the Ceryneian Hind, Apollonia turned to face him. "Artie?"

He looked down at her, "Hmm?"

She slowly reached for his sunglasses with trembling fingers. "Hold still."

He took her hands in his to stop her. "What are you . . ."

"Shhhh." she hushed gently. "Please . . ."

Artie let her removed his sunglasses. Ever since she had accidentally saw them, he had made sure to always be wearing them and to always have a spare pair in case he lost them. He found it strange that she wanted to see them, he found it even stranger as she traced around them. He held still as she brushed her fingers over his eyebrows and the side of his eyes. Strangely, he found her eye just as mesmerizing. Deep brown, like pools of silky smooth chocolate. As he lost himself in her eyes and she in his, he was aware of Tobias cranking the record player again as another song came on.

_I've got sunshine on a cloudy day._

_When it's cold outside I've got the month of May._

_I guess you'd say_

_What can make me feel this way?_

_My girl,my girl,my girl_

_Talkin' 'bout my girl, my girl_

_I've got so much honey the bees envy me._

_I've got a sweeter song than the birds in the trees . . ._

The music sort of brought him out of his trance and he was still aware of Apollonia's hands on his face. "What are you . . ."

His words were lost as she gently pulled him towards her and kissed him. He was shocked at first, so much he did not move an inch. She pulled away, sensing his hesitation.

She looked she might die of embarrassment. "Oh my gods . . . I'm sorry . . . I thought . . . that you . . . that we . . ." She hugged him and whispered pleadingly, "_No te enojes, pensé . . ."_

Artie put his hands on her shoulders to face her. "_Y por qué iba yo a estar enojado_?" He leaned closer and returned the kiss.

Artie felt her shock for a moment before she wrapped her hand behind his neck and he wrapped laid his on her waist. They continued for a minute or two before they released each other. Without spoken consent, they resumed their previous position, with him leaning against the tree and she half leaning on him, and watched the rest of the firework show. Artie only half watched as Artemis's letter began to dawn on him.

_I'll be watching you and though Apollo girl huh?, _he thought. _Well I hope you like what you see, cause I know I do._

"Artie?" Apollonia asked as she laid a hand on his face.

"Hmm?"

"So are you gonna stay with us? In Miami I mean."

He leaned in closer and gave a quick peck on the lips, "That answer your question?"

For the rest of the summer session it was official, Artie and Apollonia were dating. Artie found that the only difference between before and after was there alot more kissing involved. The problem with being the new it couple was the varied reaction of the other cabins. Artie did his best to avoid the Apollo cabin as much as possible and Apollonia did her best not spend too much time there as well. The children of Aphrodite seemed to do their best to make wherever they went as romantic as they could, whether it was playing old love songs or sprinkling them with rose petals. Artie also learned that they pestered Apollonia with questions about him, mostly about how romantic he was or how good he was at kissing. The Ares cabin was to preoccupied with hating Percy to feel one way or another about them, thank the gods. The Demeter cabin didn't seem to care, although they did spend alot of time speaking with the children of Aphrodite as of late. Annabeth had told them that her cabin was merely concerned how Apollo and Artemis would react, mostly Artemis turning Apollonia into a rabbit and throwing her to the wolves.

They only people that didn't seem to stare at them was Annabeth, Percy, Grover, and most of the Hermes cabin. They would often hang around with each other and spend the day together, though Artie still excused himself from capture the flag. He wasn't sure the Apollo cabin had told her about his outburst during his fist capture the flag game, but she never brought it up and neither did he. Despite all the stares and jeers thrown his way, he found he was happy for the first time since first arrive at Camp Half Blood two years ago. He thought about it as he stood on Half Blood Hill, waiting for Apollonia, along with many other things on his mind.

He was concerned about Grover. When he brought Apollonia to camp, the counsel of elders had finally granted him a searcher's license. Artie knew no satyr had returned alive from the search for Pan, but in the end he decided not voice his concerns. Grover had every right to follow his dreams and Artie wished him good luck along with waterskin that would keep liquid either hot or cold without damaging the was surprised to learn Annabeth would also be leaving camp and giving living with her family second chance. He exchanged polite greeting with her father and his new wife. He envied their kids, completely on hundred percent mortal. No monster attacks for them. Just normal everyday lives for them, well as normal as it could get sharing a home with a demigod.

He also wondered what Percy would do. He doubted Percy would stay year round, but there was always the possibility. He guessed after all he went through to save his mother, he wouldn't simply just stay. Then again he might stay so not to put her in danger everyday he was with her. All things considered, he might actually do that. Artie knew he would have, if his family was still alive. And since Annabeth had told him what happened when she was little, it wasn't outside the realm of possibility.

"Having second thoughts?" Apollonia asked as she walked up to him.

"More like third and fourth thoughts." he answered.

She frowned, "You're not changing your mind are you?"

Artie looked back at the camp spread out behind him before looked back at her, "Nope." Then he smiled as an idea came to him. "Race you to the bottom of the hill?"

* * *

><p><em>AN - Like I said, this is the final chapter. I'll start on Sea of Monsters fairly soon after a small break. It is the holidays after all. I'm kinda glad Sea of Monster was much shorter than the original which means I can get to Titan's Curse (My favorite of the series) and what Artie is going to do during The Battle of the Labyrinth. _

_Here's a hint - he'll be backpacking all over a continent people tend to backpack through either before or after college._


End file.
